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planting beetroot
A useful trick with beetroot seeds is to soak them for an hour before planing them.
Plant the seeds about four inches apart in a straight row (the standard advice is to sow 2 or 3 seeds in each spot). Being in a row helps you spot the seedlings as they emerge and makes it easier to hoe between the rows. Rows can be around 12 inches apart.
The seedlings are green with red veins in the leaves which makes them easy to recognise. Weed all round them as soon as they emerge. If you've got two or more seedlings together (which can happen as beetroot 'seeds' are actually a cluster of two or three and you may be sowing more than one per spot as well) then pull the spares out to give the other one enough room to grow.
Beetroot like a well-drained, fertile soil which has NOT been manured recently.
They grow best with some fertiliser. I used compost last year and got a reasonable crop. This year, I'll be trying compost and dilute urine.
In hot weather, water 2 gallons (4 litres) per square yard/metre. Don't overdo it.
If you get trouble with sparrows going for your seedlings (I don't, but some people do), then use a couple of pegs and stretch black cotton between them.
As the plants get bigger, take care not to touch the bulbs when weeding/hoeing. They'll bleed if cut.
When they reach a size suitable for eating (around August if you plant this time of year), bake/roast/grate into veggie pancakes/etc and enjoy the wonderful taste of fresh beetroot!
Different varieties of seeds can be planted/cropped at different times of year, so you can get a long season of beetroot.
Defintiely one of my favourite veg.
Plant the seeds about four inches apart in a straight row (the standard advice is to sow 2 or 3 seeds in each spot). Being in a row helps you spot the seedlings as they emerge and makes it easier to hoe between the rows. Rows can be around 12 inches apart.
The seedlings are green with red veins in the leaves which makes them easy to recognise. Weed all round them as soon as they emerge. If you've got two or more seedlings together (which can happen as beetroot 'seeds' are actually a cluster of two or three and you may be sowing more than one per spot as well) then pull the spares out to give the other one enough room to grow.
Beetroot like a well-drained, fertile soil which has NOT been manured recently.
They grow best with some fertiliser. I used compost last year and got a reasonable crop. This year, I'll be trying compost and dilute urine.
In hot weather, water 2 gallons (4 litres) per square yard/metre. Don't overdo it.
If you get trouble with sparrows going for your seedlings (I don't, but some people do), then use a couple of pegs and stretch black cotton between them.
As the plants get bigger, take care not to touch the bulbs when weeding/hoeing. They'll bleed if cut.
When they reach a size suitable for eating (around August if you plant this time of year), bake/roast/grate into veggie pancakes/etc and enjoy the wonderful taste of fresh beetroot!
Different varieties of seeds can be planted/cropped at different times of year, so you can get a long season of beetroot.
Defintiely one of my favourite veg.
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This is a major triumph - and I have increased the size of the frost protector, which I plan to leave on until the end of May unless you recommend otherwise.
Cheers!
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I'll leave you to check your own weather forecasts as these things vary around the country. The important thing is to ensure there's a space at the top for air circulation. After a while, you can take it off during the day and keep it on at night, just for three or four days to let the plant get used to being without it.
Remember that tomatoes need a lot of fertiliser, so as soon as it's settled in well and started growing, either give it a commercial tomato fertiliser, or else use the dilute urine trick a couple of times a week.
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If it's a kind that's meant to grow upwards, you'll need to start removing all sideshoots as it grows to stop it wasting effort on bits you don't want.
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I could collect the snails - most of whom are under the patio,and relocate them humanely over the fence into the field...
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Horticultural fleece is the best frost protector. (though we might be past frost by now, depending on where you live).
Snails? Take them off the plot and stamp on them. Do a check every evening. Award points for who gets the most... Slugs can be cut in half with a knife. Points here as well!
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