When to plant: grow in the cooler months of the year in Australia. Avoid growing beetroot during the height of the wet season or the peak of summer
How to plant:
Depth & space: Sow directly into garden with good tilth. Sow 2.5cm apart, 1cm deep in rows 15 cm apart. Sprouts appear in 6 days, thin in 20 days or when leaves have grown to 10cm.
Care: Choose a full-to-part sun spot to grow beetroot. It will tolerate as little as 4 hours of direct sun per day and will happily grow in the part-shade of taller vegetable crops.
Harvest in 50-55 days, when they are about 3-6cm across - these are “baby-beets” and when they’ll be at their sweetest. Beets up to 10cm across are still fine to eat, but they may be less flavourful and more woody.
Troubleshooting:
• Slugs and Snails can cause significant damage to beetroot leaves. Protect beetroot plants by setting beer traps (saucers filled with beer) amongst them or use snail & slug pellets.
• If whitefly or caterpillars attack beetroot use Pyrethrum as per the labels instructions to control them.
Varieties:
1 Deep red beet
2 Golden – a yellow beet with very useful leaves used like spinach
3 Chioggia – a candy striped beet
When to plant: March - May: a cool weather crop, so it only grows during the coldest parts of the year.
Silverbeet and spinach require slightly different growing conditions. Silverbeet, in temperate parts of Australia, can be sown and grown during most times of the year, in cooler areas it is generally sown from Spring to Autumn. Silverbeet is reasonably frost tolerant although in our extremely cold region growth can be stunted and the stalks damaged by our continuous frost season.
Spinach is far less heat tolerant than silverbeet or chard requiring a cool soil for germination and is only planted in late autumn and winter and in very cold areas, early spring. Spinach generally has a shorter picking season than silverbeet.
How to plant:
Seedlings: Add a small amount of organic bonemeal to each hole before planting. This will help your spinach develop strong roots. As always, remember to water your seedlings in well. Spinach doesn’t like to have its fine, sensitive roots disturbed. Take care when planting your seedlings out. Smaller plants will usually handle a transplant better
Direct in soil: Sprinkle your seeds over the soil and cover with a layer of compost or soil. The seeds can take more than 10 days to germinate, so don’t worry if your plants are slow to appear, just keep the soil damp, but not wet, until they’re up.
Sowing depth: Twice the height of the seed
Care: Grow in partial sun. Spinach likes rich soil. Work plenty of compost and well-rotted manure into your soil before planting. Spinach doesn’t like acidic soil. Add some lime, crushed egg shells or ash to your soil if you think it may be too acidic. A simple test from your local garden center can be used to find the ph. of your soil.
Spinach likes lots of water. Keep an eye on your spinach and don’t let the soil dry out. Once the weather warms in spring, water your spinach in the heat of the afternoon to cool it down and keep the soil cool for the evening.
Leafy green crops need plenty of nitrogen. Give your plants a nitrogen-rich, liquid feed every 2 weeks. Fish emulsion or manure tea are good options. Mulching spinach helps to keep the soil moist and cool. Apply a generous layer of organic mulch such as lucerne, sugar cane or peastraw.
Harvest 5-11 weeks. Leaves can be harvested at any stage. Harvest the right size leaves for your requirements. Simply cut or pinch the spinach leaves off the plant as you need them. Pick from your plants often to keep them vigorous.
Troubleshooting:
• Don’t plant your spinach too late. As soon as the weather warms up, it’ll bolt to seed, Spinach has a short growing season in.
• Remove any sick or damaged leaves as soon as you spot them.
Varieties
1 Chard
2 Silverbeet
3 Rainbow chard
4 Spinach