Thinning Radishes & Beets + Beet Greens Recipe

At the suggestion of a neighbor who is quite experienced with growing veggies, we planted our carrots and radishes together, mixing the seeds and sprinkling them in a one-inch-deep ditch. Robin now says she should have used only half the seeds in the packets and heeded the spacing, because they seemed to have all germinated, yielding a solid line of plants all crowded together.  The radishes aren't ready to harvest yet, although some of them are nearly an inch in diameter. The carrots are just showing.

Last evening, we decided it was time to thin the radishes. Robin worked the rows, removing over 100 plants! Yet still there are a lavish of them remaining. We are eating the larger baby radishes and have donated the smaller ones and all the tops to our neighbor's chickens.

Our beets also needed thinning. This we did by cutting the tops off some of the plants, rather than pulling them up (as we did the radishes).

Robin concocted a delicious treat for our dinner using the beet tops:

• rinse beet greens and stems; dry using salad spinner or towel
• heat 2 Tbsp olive oil and 1 tsp of butter in large skillet
• add fresh ground pepper (seasoned with a bit of lavender is good)
• add 1/2 tsp honey
• add beet greens
• stir and turn until coated with oil and lightly cooked (limp, but not mushy)
• serve and eat immediately

Yum!!!

As you can see below, the lettuce, spinach and all are quite lush now... we're giving some of it away to keep up with its fast-paced growth! Let's hear it for the horse trough gardening system!