Pulling Beets

In early spring I planted my first crop of peas in this bed.  When those were finished I pulled all the plants and removed the trellis, then planted a second crop in the bed.  I had decided to plant a row of turnips and a row of beets to help round out my winter vegetable stores.  I am not a huge fan of beets, but I know someone who is, so I thought I'd add a little color to my garden for them.  The turnips were ready for harvest first, so I pulled the largest of them every few days until I had them all.  Removing the turnips allowed the slower growing beets to now thrive with the extra sunshine.  Finally they were mostly finished growing and I decided to harvest them all at once so that I could prepare the bed for the final crop of the season: garlic.

I wound up with a good handful of colorful beets as I had planted a variety in this one row.  There were golden beets, deep red beets, white beets, and a handful of small candy cane striped beets.  What a beautiful assortment!