How to Grow Beets and Spinach

 Beets and Spinach may, at first glance, seem like two odd veggies to pare together but they are actually both from the chenopod or amaranth (depending on who you ask) plant family and have very similar growth requirements. I love growing both and cant imagine a veggie garden without them. They are both also very easy to grow from seeds. 

Both veggies are cool weather crops so here in York County, PA i can get two crops in a year: one in spring and one in fall. I only grow beets in spring but I'll get into that shortly. I sow seeds for both between St. Patrick's Day and the first week of April. Both are quick growing and can be planted in successions. That is, plant a few seeds every few weeks to keep a harvest going. Average soil conditions are fine but they do require full sun. 

Spinach is a great crop for cut and come again leaves as long as you never harvest more than 50 % of the leaves at any time. I love to blanch the leaves and then freeze them in ice cube trays for future use in soups, casseroles, pizza and eggs. Spinach plants will fizzle out in the hot July sun so pull them out and start again in mid to late August. If you plant enough, you can grow enough under a cold frame to keep you harvesting all winter. My all time favorite variety is Monstreux de Viroflay from Baker Creek Seeds because of the large yields but I've had good success with Bloomsdale Long Standing too which you can find anywhere. 

Beets can be eaten a few different ways. The greens are edible. Young leaves can be put right in salad. Older leaves are great steamed with a little vinegar on them. The roots are great roasted. However, my all time favorite is to pickle the beets and can them for winter eating. So yummy, especially when you soak hard boiled eggs in the pickling juice. You can get more information about that here. 

The downside of pickling beets is that it's TONS of work so I prefer to grow all my beets at once and have one big canning day a year. Although there are many kinds of beets to try, I'll admit to having only grown Detroit Dark Red because that's what my parents grew and I'm a little sentimental about it. Hannah is going to try Chioggia beets this year so that should be fun. 

Both Beets and Spinach are relatively pest free. I've never been tempted to treat them for anything, insect or fungus. However, rabbits do love to chew on both so I keep chicken wire fencing around both while they are young and especially tender. 

Have you ever grown these veggies before? What varieties to you like?