LET’S GROW

Beetroot, beans and chicory are all delicious and easy to grow –ideal for the first-time gardener, says Adam Appleyard f you’re new to vegetable gardening it’s a good idea to start with crops whose success can be pretty much guaranteed. And if you’re short on space it’s nice to have the option to grow them in containers.

The three vegetables we’ll be discussing here –beetroot, French beans and chicory – tick both of these boxes, and this is the time of year to come to grips with growing them.

Beetroot

One of the great things about cultivating your own beetroot – quite apart from the fact that it’s easy and fun – is the huge range of different kinds that are available as seed but which can seldom be found in the shops.

Store-bought beetroot is invariably spherical and dark maroon, but as a home-grower there are plenty more options, perfect for creative cooks keen to serve painterly plates of food.

There are white beetroots (such as ‘Albino’ and ‘White Detroit’), orange beetroots (‘Boldor F1’), yellow beetroots (‘Burpees Golden’, ‘Golden Eye’) and even striped beetroots that reveal alternating white and pink rings when you cut into them (‘Chioggia’). Most of these coloured varieties, by the way, are sweeter and less earthy tasting than the standard maroon type.

You can sow beetroot at any time from March until July, and they’re not particularly picky about what soil they find themselves in providing it’s not too stony. Sow 1cm deep, in the ground or in containers, in either case aiming for a spacing of around 10cm.

Beetroot seeds usually develop – and are sold – as knobbly clusters consisting of between two and five individual seeds, so it’s quite likely that more than one seedling will germinate in a particular spot. If so, thin out the weaker ones and add the thinnings to salads. Other than watering and weeding, your beetroots won’t require any further attention.

Sooner is better than later when it comes to harvesting, as older roots can become tough and dry. Aim to harvest them at a size that’s somewhere between a golf ball and a tennis ball. Simply grasp the stalks close to the ground and pull. They’re nicest eaten fresh, although when shorn of their top growth undamaged specimens will keep for a month or two in the vegetable drawer of your fridge.

French Beans

French beans can be planted at any time between the last of the frosts and the end of July. Sow small batches every three weeks or so to maintain a continuous supply of this healthy and delicious vegetable through until mid-autumn.

Climbing French beans will need to be grown on a wigwam of bamboo canes, and it’s best to construct this prior to sowing. Beans love rich soil, so dig in plenty of well-rotted manure or homemade garden compost before you start. Whatever shape of wigwam you create, sow bean seeds near the base at intervals of around 15cm and tie in any loose shoots once they start to develop.

If this all sounds like too much trouble, dwarf French beans are compact enough not to need staking, and can even be grown in medium-large containers. ‘Purple Teepee’ is a good choice, and has the additional advantage of attractive dark purple pods, although sadly this striking colour reverts to green during cooking. Other worthy varieties include ‘Sprite’, ‘Boston’ and ‘Faraday’.

Beans like a lot of moisture, so water them regularly and mulch them if you can. Start picking your crop as soon as the beans are large enough to eat, and keep picking regularly to encourage further flowers to develop. Beans surplus to immediate requirements can be blanched for two minutes in boiling water and frozen, so there’s no excuse for holding back!

That said, leave one or two pods to mature on the stems. Collect them once they have turned brown and lay them out to dry indoors. Remove the beans from the pods after a fortnight and store them in labelled envelopes somewhere cool and dry ready for next year’s sowing.

Chicory

The bitter, tangy leaves of chicory can be an acquired taste, but cooking will take the edge off the bitterness and transform them into a delicious accompaniment to any autumn meal.

To make things easy, forget the so-called ‘forcing’ chicories (forcing chicory is a bit of a faff) and buy seed of a red chicory variety such as ‘Palla Rossa’ or, for maximum sweetness, a ‘sugarloaf’ variety like ‘Pan di Zucchero’.

Sow outdoors in full sun or part shade in June or July, 1cm deep in rows 30cm apart or spaced randomly across large containers of peat-free compost. In either case, thin seedlings to 25cm apart once they are growing strongly.

Keep your rows or containers weed-free and water thoroughly in dry weather, otherwise your chicory may ‘bolt’, that’s to say start to produce flowerheads. If you happen to have well-rotted manure or homemade garden compost to hand you can use it to mulch your plants – it will help suppress weeds and keep the soil moist. Other than that there’s no special maintenance required.

Your chicory should be ready to harvest from late summer onwards, as and when you need it. Don’t be tempted to pull up the whole plant. Chop the head off close to ground level and with a bit of luck the stump will sprout again, giving you the chance of a second crop in mid-to-late autumn.

Discard the outer leaves, which will be tough and bitter – it’s the inner ones you’ll want to eat. Add chopped leaves to salads for a crisp, refreshing crunch, or use them in stir fries. Alternatively, halve the heads and braise them, or roast them with a dash of olive oil.

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