Swede Growing Question (Absolutely nothing to do with new IKEA openings!)

[sownsow]

I'm looking at sowing some swede for the latter months.
I have 2x 1m raised beds, each appx 15cm deep. One has 9 strawb plants in (roll on some sunshine!), the other I'm using for some shallots,a few kohlrabi,a couple of cabbages,some spinach and some little gem lettuce.
I also have a 6' x 4' raised bed appx 45cm deep,this has a selection of stuff in.

The question is - what depth of soil will swedes happily grow in? I don't want monster ones as there are only two of us,so if I sow directly into the shallower beds will I this produce smaller ones (ideally I'd like them to grow in halves like in the supermarkets, but I think that would be a big ask! ), and how much spacing would they need?
In contrast,if I sow into the larger bed I'm concerned about the space they will use up in summer whilst I'm trying to grow beets,squash,courgettes,corn etc. (Emphasise on the "try" as its my first year at growing veg on what for me is a large scale! ).

Look forward to any advice,
Thanks.

[Matt94]

i have never grown swedes, but i have grown little turnips - ive forgot the name of the ones i grew last year, but they grew to the size of tennis balls and had a fairly small root system - however i do know a similar variety called purple top millan which grows equally small - give it a google

[Thelma Sanders]

are your raised beds standing on concrete or on a soil base?

[sownsow]

Hi Thelma, the two small ones are on concrete whilst the large one is on soil.

[Thelma Sanders]

I'd grow them in the one on soil then, so they can put down good roots. It seems that if they don't anchor very well and get blown about - then the stem never swells to make the bit you eat!

Matt, swedes tend to be grown much larger than the small turnips that we use/eat nowadays

[sownsow]

Thanks for the reply Thelma, I'll allocate some space for them!

[Matt94]

Matt, swedes tend to be grown much larger than the small turnips that we use/eat nowadays

yeh and if you read sownsows original post he/she says that they would prefer smaller swedes - thats why i said turnips might be the best solution!

[Alison]

Swedes will stand over the winter though so much better for then whereas turnips are obviously smaller but more of a summer / autumn crop. Depends really on when you want them, I grow both for different times of the year.

[Snadger]

.................and swede neither have the colour texture or taste anything like Purple Top Milan turnips which are white fleshed, soft, not frost hardy and more akin to mooli or snowball turnips. (Nice, but different!)

All my three types of module grown swede are now planted out and doing well.

I've no idea though how they would perform in the growing conditions you describe but would think that turnips would be better suited as they are basically a salad crop and won't be in the soil so long. (and you can eat the tops!

[sownsow]

Thanks for the responses chaps & chapesses!
It is swede I'm after producing rather than turnips(maybe next year for those!),but from what I can glean I'll sow some swede seeds (bit of a tongue twister there!) tomorrow in the deeper bed in a few spaces amongst the corn and french beans which will finish at the end of summer.(Summer - now there's a laugh! )
That said,given the slower germination and growth rate,I'll make some space and try a few seeds in the shallow bed just to see what happens!
I'll repost in 5months with some sort of result!