How to Grow Root Crops: Listen to Chapter 4 of Leaves, Roots, and Fruit

Today I want to teach you how to grow root crops. Oh, my goodness. Have you ever had this experience where you reach down, you grab a little leaf, you tug on it, and when you pull it, it's like the earth. The soil doesn't want to let go, and the minute that it does, the most magical thing pops up out of the dirt. If you've never had that experience before in your life, today I'm going to show you how. I'm going to be reading to you from chapter or really step four in my book, Leaves, Roots, and Fruit. If you're looking for a step by step way to learn how to garden, you found it. There are eight steps to master pretty much every plant in the vegetable garden, and I learned it the hard way and then I turned it into a system that you can follow along with. So today I'm going to be reading you from step four, which is all about roots. And I'm going to, you know, make it possible for you to have that magical moment where you just tug on that little piece of green and end up with the most delicious, nutritious root crop on the other side. We pulled all the carrots. Mommy. Rebecca yelled to me in passing, as if it was no big thing. I was in the kitchen as usual and immediately felt a sense of dread. All of the carrots I asked all meant an entire 4x10 foot garden bed planted with nothing but carrots. That's 40 square feet of garden space if you're counting. And if you plant like I do, that's at least 400 carrots. Yep. Don't worry, Mommy. We washed them off in our bathroom. 400 carrots hauled through the living room and washed by a preschooler in the bathroom sink. This was testing me. But it wasn't the dirt clogged sink that was the issue. I was just jealous that they'd pulled all those carrots while I was stuck in the kitchen. If you've never pulled a carrot that you grew yourself, you don't know it yet. But a carrot harvest is not something you'd want to miss. Let me fill you in. When you give a gentle pull on the stem, you'll feel the resistance from the earth below. You'll pull some more and can almost sense that it's you and the garden in a tug of war. She's not going to give up easily. Your garden soil has allowed this root to swell and expand. Over the past few months. This root has literally moved its own mountains, pushing soil 10 times its weight out of its way, all while absorbing the water and the air and the nutrients that surround it. When you finally win, and you will, your eyes widen and your heart might even skip a beat. At the first peak of the root top, its color, its width, its stretch marks, the stem is now a magical thread that you cannot help but keep pulling. You desperately want to see the end, but at the same time you pull as slowly as you can to enjoy this experience as long as possible. Finally, pop. The full carrot appears. You turn your little root on its side and admire it. Bumps, stretch marks, dirt and all. Never has a plant meant so much. From now on, you're hooked. You look down, search the garden for another stem that looks ready to pull and start the experience all over again. It was this pop that kept my girls quietly occupied all that time in the garden, and I'd miss the entire thing. Yes, there would be a mess, and yes, there would be a lot of carrot souffle juice and cake in our very near future. But more than anything, I'd miss the carrot picking show. So somewhere between cleaning the bathroom and cooking the carrots, I was just going to have to get out there and plant some more seeds. This step in your gardener's journey is a big one, so you're going from loads of leaves above ground to hidden treasures below. Instead of knowing exactly what your harvest is going to look like from day to day, you'll have dozens of days where you can only guess what's growing underneath the surface. This step is more challenging, but can also be more rewarding, especially if you get to the harvest before your preschooler does. The plant families you're going to grow three kinds of plant families of root crops in the garden. If you've just completed step three, then the families will sound familiar. There's overlap between these plant families that you'll encounter on each step, and it's fun to think that we can grow some of these plants for their leaves, some for their roots, and some for both. The Apiaceae family is a family that houses herbs like cilantro and dill, but it's best known for the carrot root crop. It also includes fennel, parsnip and the less well known but super nutritious root celeriac. These plants love the cool season and grow best in deep raised beds that make room for their tap roots to grow as long and deep as possible. Brassicaei the brassica family is usually thought of in terms of leafy greens like kale and mustard, but it also includes roots like radishes, turnips and rutabaga These plants also love the cool season, and they grow bulbous roots quickly underground as their leaves grow tall and wide. Above Amaranthus sai, the amaranth family known best for spinach includes beetroots. Beetroots too. Amaranth plants prefer the cool season and need adequate space for the full root to form. There are other plant families you can grow for their roots, but these are the most common and and the best to focus on as you move through this step. As you plant the different families in this step, always be thinking of the roots. Out of sight, out of mind is a thing. In other words, it's easy to focus mostly on what's growing above ground, even when you're gearing up to grow root plants. So the key here is just because you can't see it doesn't mean it isn't there for setup, the space is first have you ever heard of the pot size effect? It's the idea that a plant will grow to the size of its pot and no further. It's based on scientific discoveries that plants extend their roots to the edges of a container and they get a sense of how big they can grow. And all those plant species reach larger sizes if they're simply moved to a bigger pot. The pot size effect is something that you've got to consider when you set up your root plants. Picture these tiny seeds becoming future root crops. Day after day, each seed develops a root that grows and swells and adds new cells. That is, until the root detects something nearby. And this could be another plant. Even though your root crops will likely be grown in a raised bed or at least a large container, imagine each plant as being in its own invisible pot. If you plant root seeds too close together, you've given each plant a small container that will prevent it from growing to its full potential. So keep in mind the pot size effect and the desired harvest size of the mature radish, carrot, beet or even celery. Act when determining how much space to give each root plant seed you put in the garden. If you're going to grow radishes that are 2 inches wide when mature, you could plant 36 in one square foot. And if you're going to grow carrots that are three inches wide, you can grow 16 in one square foot. If you're growing beets that are four inches wide, you can put nine in a square foot. Imagine how large each plant can become is easier said than done. But most root crop seeds, especially radishes, carrots and beets, they're so tiny. Simply separating the pebble like seeds can be difficult on its own, but holding each seed in its place and being sure each one is planted apart from another is next level gardening when it comes to spacing. Just get it right the first time. In other words, don't assume that you'll have time to return to the garden to thin your seedlings once they sprout. Slowing down to space out your seeds correctly from the beginning will save you days and seasons of frustration because you won't have to thin and separate seedlings planted too closely together. It's easy to be lazy with your planting and just toss out a bunch of seeds all at once. Trust me, I know. But I've found that managing and thinning closely planted seeds takes way more time than simply slowing down in the beginning and planting methodically. Roots are in between leaves and fruit when it comes to their sunlight needs. You'll still see a lot of growth on your plants without the ideal amount of sunlight, but that growth will mostly be above the soil instead of below where we want it most. In general, you need about six hours of direct sunlight on your root plants to have good, strong root formation under the soil. Because root crops are usually smaller plants with greens that don't grow very high above the ground, you're going to need to carefully choose their planting location so that the larger fruiting plants and even the larger leaf plants like kale and herbs don't block the sun from your root crops. When I first began gardening, I read that radishes and carrots grow well together. Have you heard this? But I actually found the opposite to be true. The leaves of the radishes are so large and thick that they shade the carrots while they're growing. While I did end up getting a radish harvest, the carrots never, ever recovered from their days under the radishes shade. Now I know to plant each of them separately in their own bed or space them apart in the garden so they don't miss a day of the sunshine they need for speedy growth. Root plants can take longer to germinate and grow than leafy greens, and I find that roots do best when they're planted by themselves in a garden bed instead of alongside leafy greens and fruiting plants. Yes, you can still use the intensive planting method from my first book, Kitchen Garden Revival, to grow root crops alongside other types of plants. But start your root crops in the garden first so their leaves have enough time to grow 4 to 6 inches before the leafy greens or the fruiting plants around them take off and take up their space. Most of the plants we enjoy most for their roots are planted in the cool season when temperatures range from 45 to 75 degrees Fahrenheit. Any colder and root crops won't germinate any warmer and most will stall their growth or never fully form a root. Most roots love it when the days are warm, not hot, and the nights are cool, not cold. This means you'll get the best harvest from root crops during the shoulder seasons of spring and fall, or whatever time of year is equivalent to a cool season in your neighborhood. When I gardened in Houston, I planted root crops in the winter, but in the Chicago area I grew them twice a year in spring and in fall. The timing can be tricky, so you need the soil warm enough to be able to sow the seeds. But if you plant it too late, once the temperatures are already rising and your cool season is transitioning to warm, your crops will bolt and go to seed before they fully develop great roots. And if you wait too late at the end of the warm season to plant, the soil and the air temperatures will become too cold before the roots can fully form. The trick is to look for weather that will be over 45 degrees Fahrenheit but below 85 degrees Fahrenheit for two to three months. If you can find this window as the weather either warms or cools, plant as soon as you can at the beginning of that time frame once you're growing any of the key root crops carrots, parsnips and celeriac from the Apiaceae family radishes, turnips and rutabagas from the brassicae family, or beets from the amaranth family. You'll need to consistently check your soil temperature to keep things between 55 and 75 degrees Fahrenheit for the best root formation. Weather protection techniques can help you regulate your soil temperature and extend your growing time during the transition from cold to cool season. For example, you could use a frost cloth or a cold frame when you first plant. And if your seeds need to germinate and begin to grow during the warm season, use a shade cloth to protect the roots and cool the soil. Then, as the seeds sprout and temperatures decrease a bit, you can remove the shade cloth and allow the plants to grow in the open air. So that right there is the setup section of the roots chapter. There's more on care and harvesting and helping you know how to make the most of all the different plants that grow in a root garden. Here is the magical part about growing root crops, roots are the place where plants store their nutrients. Roots are the place. So when you think about the way that a plant grows, the leaves are the food makers, right? The leaves on the plant are absorbing the sunlight and pulling in the water from the air or from the rain. And then they're turning that into food. They're photosynthesizing those materials and turning it into plant food. And then what the plant is doing is it's thinking about its future. The very cool thing about plants is they're always future thinkers, they're optimists, and they're also planners. And so plants are planners. That's something you should remember. So, because a plant is a planter, it immediately takes that nutrients, and it not just makes more. It doesn't just make more leaves with it, which it does, but it sends some of that nutrients deep down into the base of the plant, which is the root. And so what does this mean for us? This means that if we want to nourish our body with minerals and nutrients and vitamins, then there is often not a better part of a plant to eat than the root. Because think about it. The root is the way the plant takes care of itself. The root is the place that it fortifies itself and protects itself and gets itself ready to finish its life, right? And so the root formation of a plant is so neat, it's in between. That's why this book is called Leaves, Roots and Fruit. The first step is the leaves. That's the beginning of the plant's life. And then as the plant gets ready to go to fruit, which is its first final form before it, you know, dies and starts the process all over again, it goes deep. It goes down into the earth, and it pulls all the good stuff from the air, from the sun, from the soil, and pulls it into its root system. And that is where it stores it up and prepares itself for the future. And so if you're looking for something, one that's going to store, well, that's going to last long. And that also will take care of you and your body and give you nutrients that you're probably lacking, then the way to get that is with roots. And there's no better way to get those nutrients than with plants that you grow yourself. Because the soil, think about it, it's absorbing all this food from the soil, it's absorbing all these things from the leaves. The root is going to hold so much of what this plant's environment has been. So we really don't want a plant that's been sprayed with chemicals or fertilizers. We don't want a soil that's not organic or as natural as possible. And so this is a plant. You truly want to watch its conditions. You want to watch its surroundings. Because when you eat that root crop, you're eating its environment too. Get it? You're not just eating the thing. You're eating all the things that surrounded that thing. And so filling yourself up with carrots and beets and radishes and potatoes and sweet potatoes, onions, garlic, these things that grow underground is one of the best ways we can take care of ourselves. But you want to be sure that that thing you're eating, that root, has been grown in the best way possible. And there's two ways I know to do that. One is to know your farmer. Go to the farmer's market, meet your farmer, know how they're growing your food. And then the second way is to grow some of this yourself. So I teach you how to do it in leaves, roots, and fruit. My book. You can learn more about how to time it. When to plant your root crops with the Gardenary calendar. And you can get that for free@gardenary.com all you gotta do is put in two dates, we fill out the rest for you, and you'll know exactly when to plant everything in your garden, and then you can follow along. We've got lots of instructions, lots of workshops coming your way at Gardenary to help you keep growing. But don't forget, the root crops are just a fantastic thing that I think is often overlooked because it's all happening. Shh. In secret. If you do plant carrots, watch out for those preschoolers, because they will steal your carrot picking joy, and they'll pull them all and wash them in the bathroom sink, and you'll just be stuck making carrot souffle for the rest of the month. Just kidding. If you do have kids, planting carrots is like. It's like required reading. You have to do it. There's nothing more fun than watching a little kid pull a carrot out of the ground. Except for maybe you getting to do it yourself. All right, thanks for watching, thanks for listening, and thanks for being part of part of Gardenary. We cannot make the garden ordinary around the world without you. We need you bringing garden joy to yourself and your friends and your neighbors every day right alongside us. So thanks for being part of the mission of the movement, and I'll see you next time. Thanks so much for listening to the Grow youw Self podcast. You can keep listening anywhere you love getting your podcast delivered on Apple, Podcasts on Spotify, I Heart Radio, you name it, we are there for you. And if you want to read the notes and get our free resources to help you grow more, you can go to gardenary.com podcast.