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Xanthe White’s guide to growing silverbeet
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Monday, 27 February 2012
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 In this month’s installment from Xanthe White’s Organic Vegetable Gardening, the acclaimed author and well-grounded gardener tells us how to grow un-beet-able silverbeet!
Click here to win a copy of Organic Vegetable Gardening.
Silverbeet
Silverbeet deserves a mention even though it is oft en treated as a second-rate vegetable by gardeners and culinary aficionados alike. My mother’s family classified it as cattle fodder until my dad’s persistence won her over.
Because silverbeet grows so readily in all parts of the country, little thought is given to providing the ideal conditions that make the difference between fodder and a fi ne vegetable generous in its growth. As a reliable crop that fills the garden year round and in tough conditions, it should not be too easily dismissed.
Preparing
To have good flavour silverbeet requires soil that has been well limed, with lots of good organic matter added at planting. A good open free-draining site is ideal but with good soil conditions it will perform anywhere.
Sowing and planting
It should be sown in succession and planted in succession to legumes, roots or tubers. This means you will always have fresh and tender plants rather than having to eat older bitter crops. Like lettuce, silverbeet can be used to fill gaps in crops as plants are harvested.
Companions
Silverbeet causes no offence and has little preference but works well in crop rotation and grows well with strawberries.
Care
Silverbeet will do best when good attention is paid to watering, and ideally should be watered daily in hot weather. Slugs and snails are prone to helping themselves so a regular sprinkling of shell at the base works wonders, as does an organic snail bait. A weekly foliage feed will assist disease resistance and flavour.
Harvesting
Plants must be harvested when young. Far too often they are left to sit while other crops are harvested and as a result they become bitter. Young plants could make the difference to whether silverbeet makes it onto your planting list next season!
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