beet spinach

[red]

growing this for the first time this year - and some of the plants were lost to slugs, so had to sow again...
which means I have one plant that is just about big enough to pick, and the rest not there yet - so I would nt be able to pick enough for eating, but should I pick from it anyway, even if to throw away, to keep that big plant going?

and how much do you pick vs how much do you leave behind?

[Millymollymandy]

Do you have hens? I can't remember. Mine love spinach beet, so when I've got too much (which I always do), I pick some for them.

I don't think you need to pick leaves to keep the plant going, although if you have got some leaves which are a bit holey or manky, pick them and put in the compost.

From my experience they will just keep on growing and growing, and wait till you see the roots next year!!!

[Thurston Garden]

I grow this by the bed load! I sow it in cells, a pinch of seeds to a cell and then plant out in a block - about 70 plants to a bed.

Sometimes I can't keep up with eating/selling it and it does run to seed. I chop it back with some hedging shears - to about 3 inches, water it and within a few days it's off again!

I probably had 6/7 cuts off one bed last year, a couple through the winter and 2/3 in the spring. I discovered that it start to go to seed quicker and quicker, so I have lifted all the plants and started again (in another bed, of course...).

The 2 green beds on the right ready for picking in Feb this year:



Thoroughly recommend this - and yes, the hens love the clippings!