How to Lay Out a Lettuce & Beet Garden

Start your preparation up to a month before the last predicted frost in your zone. Beets and lettuce both thrive with early, moist starts and temperatures of 50 to 65 degrees Fahrenheit. Both crops provide their best harvests when they mature before hot weather arrives.

Lay the beet and lettuce garden out in a quick-draining part of the garden with partial-to-filtered sunshine. Cool-season crops, such as lettuce and beets, thrive in partial shade and cooler soil.

Till the soil for planting. Dig into the top 6 inches of soil for these shallow-rooted plants and mix the soil aerating it. Remove rocks, which retard beet growth. Turn 3 inches of garden loam or organic compost into the soil loosening it. Beets and lettuce don't require rich soil but do require good drainage and moisture retention. Turn 5-10-10 fertilizer into the soil for quicker rooting.

Plant lettuce seeds 1/4 to 1/2 inch deep at 6 to 10 inches in the row with 18 to 24 inches between rows. Plant the beet seeds 1/2 inch deep in their own plot or in between the lettuce rows. Beets grow underground and can grow between lettuce heads without interference. Give each beet seed 1 inch in the row and leave 12 to 18 inches between beet rows in an independent plot.

Water the entire plot with 2 inches of water and lay 1 inch of organic mulch over any unplanted soil up to the plantings. The mulch helps soil maintain moisture during the season and eliminates the possibility of weed growth.