Combining Root Crops

Food Gardening Guide → Other Root Crops / Planting

• Uploaded by gardengus

Interplanting and succession planting are two ways to extend your harvest season. Here's how.

In addition to radishes, you can plant any root crop with other vegetables and get terrific results. Combine carrots and lettuce in a row, for example, or plant turnips with spinach, chard or lettuce. For a real smorgasbord, mix carrots, radishes and onions in one row. Every time you harvest one crop, you cultivate the row. The remaining roots benefit from the additional room you leave. Talk about growing a gourmet salad in one garden spot!

When you decide to combine your plants, choose partners that won't smother each other. For instance, the fast-growing cool-season crops such as lettuce and spinach will be ready to harvest before the slower-growing root crops need the same sun and space. You should harvest or pull the first crop completely to guarantee the success of the second.

Interplanting works especially well in wide rows. Just plant less of each crop than you normally would, and enjoy a much greater variety of vegetables without increasing the size of your garden.

To have a constant supply of fresh root crops through the summer and fall, you can plant small groups of seeds two to three weeks apart, starting in early summer. Fast-maturing root crops like carrots, beets, radishes and turnip greens will be harvestable 50 to 60 days after seeding and can extend your root crop season.

Together with Victory Seed Company:

Victory Seed Company has all the seeds you want for your best garden in 2024.

For 25 years, the family-owned Victory Seed Company has provided the highest quality vegetable, herb and flower seeds to families across the country. We are passionate about providing you the best seeds available that give excellent germination, robust plants, and the harvest you want. With a catalog of over a thousand varieties, we have everything, and our prices are the kinds that we'd want to pay. We have hundreds of yesterday's heirloom vegetables, as well as today's award winning hybrid selections. Get to know us by visiting our website and browsing through our online vegetable seed catalog.