I Planted Another Row Of Beets Today

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Bob Bauer
May 23, 2018 (Last Updated: ) | Reading Time: 2 minutes

May 23, 2018

I planted another row of beets today because we enjoy beets with corn and beans as much as we do with artichokes and spinach. I'll plant another row in June, one in July, and the last row in August. The August row will be for overwintering. Beets always seem to make it through the winter. If it's a cold harsh winter they tend to get tough..

If your timing is off they tend to get huge and woody. Last winter was so mild that they were like spring beets with thick skin. Having learned about the value of row covers on the spinach and chard last winter I think I'll try to cover the beets as well..

May 24, 2018

I started a back up six pack of perpetual spinach so that I could fill the raised bed in the greenhouse even if I lost some of my original plants. I used a sanitized six pack, moistened seed starter mix, planted two seeds per cell a quarter inch deep, put the pack in a tray of half strength fish emulsion for a couple hours, took it out, covered it with plastic wrap and put it on the top shelf in the ventilated greenhouse. Nothing came up. Nothing. How is that possible? Gardening throws you curves to keep you humble..

Just because something worked before doesn't mean it will work again. I'm dumfounded. Maybe that's why I keep gardening. Maybe my state of perplexity helps me avoid the world issues I prefer to ignore..

May 25, 2018

The artichokes are sending up their stalks taller than ever this year, with a choke on the end. They look like grasped hand offerings to the heavens. I picked nine 4" ones from one plant the other day, and eleven 3" ones from another. They have backup coming on too. The plants are so prolific this year that I discovered I have three or four different varieties. You can walk by the plants and see that this batch is not like the other batch..

Every time a gopher would eat the roots of one plant I'd ask the cook to get more plants. I never paid attention to what varieties I was getting and I really didn't care. Now I've come to realize that the ones that get purple leaves on the outer course are the ones I prefer. I think they are called globe. They seem to get larger before the leaves begin to open so I feel more successful as a gardener..

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