Beets are a crop that indeed provides everything: both the leaves and the roots can be consumed! The bright red round roots are what most people are accustomed to seeing pickled in salads, but beet leaves are also delicious and nutrient-rich and can be prepared similarly to spinach.
We’ll cover all of beets companion plants and how to avoid pests.
Top 4 Beets Companion Plants
- Radish
- Carrots
- Onions
- Lettuce
Best Companion Plants For Beets & Avoiding Pests
Aphids, flea beetles, red spider mites, and cutworms are typical beet pests. Radishes, onions, and carrots make excellent companion plants for controlling these pests.
In addition to growing well together with other root crops, beets also draw beneficial insects to your garden if you grow some of the carrots to flower.
By planting lettuces that can be cut and harvested multiple times (cut-and-come-again lettuces) between your beets, you can harvest space and increase diversity.
Also, beets can be grown close to slower maturing crops, even in partial shade, and are a quick and straightforward crop to grow.
What Not to Plant With Beets: Avoid These 3
1.) Chard
Although chard won’t harm your beets directly, they are highly similar plants. As a result, the beets attract pests and diseases that will damage the chard. Combining these two plants may provide the perfect environment for problems.
2.) Field Mustard
Avoid planting field mustard with beets because results are usually poor when grown together.
3.) Pole Beans
Pole beans are an exception, even though most beans benefit from beets. This is because pole beans and beets will inhibit one another’s development, and the extra nitrogen from the pole beans will result in beets with a small amount of beetroot and an oversized top.
Starting & Planting
Beets are best started from seed. Each “seed” of a beet is a group of seeds that will grow a few plants together.
In order to avoid having to thin them out, always try to plant one seed per spot. (Two to four beets can happily grow in the same space.)
You can plant transplants you grow yourself or buy from a garden center because beets are one root crop that doesn’t mind transplanting. The transplants or seed pods should be spaced 3 to 4 inches (8 to 10 cm) apart.
Growing & Harvesting
A beet that grows quickly has the best flavor. They require a lot of rich organic material to grow in, consistent moisture, and lots of sunlight in order to grow quickly.
Although beets can grow in some shade, the flavor of the root won’t be as good. (However, there are still plenty and delicious leaves.) Beets are good spring and fall crops in most climates, and milder climates are also good winter crops because they grow better in cooler weather.
The plants will start to suffer once the temperature exceeds 85°F (30°C). You can cover them with shade cloth to protect them from the effects of the heat, but once temperatures reach those higher levels, it might be time to harvest them.
When beet roots are the size of a golf ball, they are ready to be harvested at any time; as they grow larger, the flavor suffers, and the roots become more woody. As long as you don’t remove more than a third of the leaves at once, you can harvest the outer leaves throughout the entire growing season.
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Davin is a jack-of-all-trades but has professional training and experience in various home and garden subjects. He leans on other experts when needed and edits and fact-checks all articles.