ecodreaming gardening Plants

Beets in heavy clay soil

The soil in my garden  is  heavy clay.  I’ve actually made clay cups from the soil.   Fired them and all.    And every thing I’ve ever read about beets (Beta vulgaris, the one breed for the root, — the other B. vulgaris is chard, bred for the leaves) says that they don’t like heavy clay soil.   I just want to say to all those researchers and distributors of their literature:  in my heavy clay soil, beets are one of the best plants I’ve grown.   I consisently get amazing beets from most areas of the garden.  The worst results are from raised beds, with the loose, well-drained soil that all the literature says beets require.   The one time we did have success in a raised bed was when we grew it in the one that the cucurbits hate, the one with lots of heavy clay mixed in.

Quite honestly I ate beets grown in heavy clay today, and maybe they are really typing this post.   Cooked in a solar over.  So good.

Yeah, they are definitely writing this post . . .