companion planting – Tiny Garden

Radishes – A review

I did a companion planting experiment where I planted quick-growing radishes with slower-growing beets. The idea is that the radishes will be ready to harvest about a month before the beets, therefore loosening the soil for the beets when the radishes are harvested.

While the radishes have been successful, I don’t know if it’s the best idea to broadcast sow the two seed varieties as I did. When I was pulling the radishes, some of the beet seedlings were coming out with them because the roots were tangled together. I have tried again with baby carrots (similar to these) and radishes in another container, and this time I planted them in more orderly rows, about one seed per inch.

The radish variety I planted this year is Amethyst, which should mature in 25-30 days. This variety is meant to be slow to go woody, which seems to be true in my case. At 45+ days, the larger ones are just starting to get a bit fibrous.

June 3, 2012
(49 days since planting)

4th Harvest – 23 radishes in this harvest. After this, we still have one more harvest to go. In total, I think we will have harvested 50-60 radishes grown in one 24″ x 6″ x 8″ planter.

May 27, 2012
(42 days since planting)

3rd Harvest – Approximately 10 radishes in this and past harvests. Many of them are larger than a twoonie.

May 18, 2012
(33 days since planting)

May 5, 2012
(20 days since planting)

April 27, 2012
(12 days since planting)

Heart-shaped leaves.

April 15, 2012
(Seeds planted)

24″ l x 6″ w x 8″ h planter

Companion planting is when different types of plants are grown together for some mutually beneficial reason. For example, yarrow (Achillea) can be planted with other flowers and vegetables to deter aphids. As well, beans can be planted with corn, as corn provides a pole which the beans can climb up.

I’m not sure if this 100% counts as companion planting, but I will plant fast-growing radishes and slower-growing mini beets together in a container. Because I hate the thought of thinning out perfectly fine vegetable seedlings, planting radishes that grow within 28 days amongst beets that grow in 55-60 days will allow me to harvest the radishes while thinning and loosening the soil for the mini beets.

In my 24″ x 4″ x 6″ pot, I planted Amethyst radishes and Baby Ball beets on April 13th. Both should be planted in cooler weather (direct seed throughout April), and if this works well, I can plant for a winter harvest in August.

I added sand to Sea Soil to lighten the growing medium a bit. I like Sea Soil for the organic matter, but it can get heavy once watered.

Also, because of my experience with my container peas where the soil settled after watering and left an extra inch from the top of the pot, I pre-watered the soil and added more compost before sowing the seeds. Since these are root crops, I wanted to provide as much soil depth as possible.

Some tips and tricks (see below for source):

For quicker germination, soak beet seeds in warm water prior to planting to break through the tough shell.
Cover the seeds with peat moss instead of soil to keep seeds warm and moist, but will be easy for seedlings to break through.

For more info on beets and companion planting:

West Coast Seeds – Companion planting article

How to grow beets – good tips and tricks!