My direct seeded beet experiment at the allotment seems to have worked! I prepared a fresh sheet mulch over the very grassy/weedy garlic and broad bean beds once they were harvested in June: a layer of cardboard topped with several cm of compost. I then marked rows, sowed beet seed, and enclosed the whole thing in fine insect mesh; I even buried all the edges so in theory nothing could access the bed from the outside.
Both beds (sown about two weeks apart) had the same treatment though I had less seed for the second bed--it's not as thick with leaves as the first. Beets are not particularly attractive to most of my local pests except as very young shoots; the first bed is definitely past this stage and the second bed is also probably safe by now however I'll not take its net off for a little while longer just in case.
But on the strength of this start, I'm attempting a slightly more slug-attracting plant: radishes. In particular, mini daikon and black Spanish radishes--both bigger than the typical red salad radishes, and intended for cooking. I've already started the newest sheet mulch and I'll take the net off the first bed of beets when I'm ready to sow. Now is a good time for radishes as they prefer it a little cooler but are pretty quick so will still have time to make roots. I had some success with both kinds in my own garden last autumn so we'll see if I can get any at the allotment too.
(I keep sheet mulching my allotment in order to keep the grass at bay, but it's starting to emerge through the beet beds already--I've been sheet mulching for years now and it's enough to get a crop growing to harvest, but not enough to kill the grass. Without sheet mulching, my plants can't compete with grass, even if I've dug over a bed thoroughly.)
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