Beet experts

[ducks4you]

Neither is true. You need to plant beets in heavily composted soil. I don't even keep up with the watering, but year after year I have been harvesting huge beets, and they are all tender. They love having huge tops and huge roots. If the roots have to fight for space, they get get tough.

 

[majorcatfish]

I have had poor germination also. Soak you seeds overnight and you will have a great germination improvement.

funny you mentioned that, there are times every seed germinates and other times it's hit and miss..so i have learned to overseed with beets...

 

[flowerbug]

funny you mentioned that, there are times every seed germinates and other times it's hit and miss..so i have learned to overseed with beets...

yeah, i don't mind eating the thinnings. they are more than one seed per clump often enough (because the seeds come in chunks and the seed company tries to chop them up but doesn't quite get it down to one seed per...).

 

[ninnymary]

Different strokes for different folks, I really like the variety Detroit Dark Red, they are especially good roasted in a balsamic vinegar, brown sugar, butter glaze .

Annette

Hey Annette, we were up at the wine country and I bought a bottle of balsamic vinegar for $40. I remembered you saying your's was delicious. I roasted some brussel sprouts and drizzled the BV and it was delicious! Big difference from my Trader Joe's one, haha.

Mary

 

[aftermidnight]

@ninnymary everything tastes better when using the good stuff but the maple flavored balsamic is also yummy on B. sprouts, don't forget a bit of butter.

Do you have a store similar to this one near you https://www.olivethisandmore.ca/ if so you should go in and do some taste tests. I'm not too fond of the flavored olive oils but some of the flavored balsamics are really good https://www.olivethisandmore.ca/dark-balsamics

Annette

 

[baymule]

Interesting thread, especially since I just planted beets. I used to grow them many years ago and can them with honey, clove and cinnamon. I hope I can grow them again. Roasted baby beets and beet greens sound good!

 

[flowerbug]

so many people say "They taste like dirt!" and i'm, like, um, "Yeah! Yum!"

in the canning group i read (now mostly defunct) the abbreviation used
for them is PBDC (pickled, boiled dirt chunks) we used to do 20-50
quarts a year, now that my brother can't eat them much we only do
about a dozen. i'm not even sure if we're going to grow any this year
at all other than perhaps a few for eating fresh steamed/roasted. i'll often
sample a few young ones when out in the garden sitting right there in
the dirt.

 

[Nyboy]

I thought I hated beets, growing up we had can. I once asked a waiter what was the vegetable that was roasted, I almost fell off my chair when he said beets

 

[digitS']

We learn as we grow.

I think that I grew tomatoes in the first garden because the olde Italian neighbor grew tomatoes and I admired his garden. I'd come to like tomatoes about that time because of pizza coming to town, don't you know!? Before that, I mean spaghetti was okay but I had no interest in "fresh" tomatoes at the market.

Beet leaves taste no more like dirt than does chard. As a kid, I disliked chard because of the heavy stems. I still don't care for them, altho the attitude may just be a relic of childhood . Discovered Italian chard a few years ago - it's good! Spinach, I like especially as a salad green. This is a family of plants! I have eaten orach for years. It's good stuff. Except for chard, these veggies suffer in summer heat. What to do?

Amaranth and it's relative celosia do well in my ornamental garden. Callaloo @hoodat suggested! I almost bought the seeds for that this year. Instead of Caribbean, I went for a red leaf amaranth from an Asian seed outfit. Might be a callaloo with an Asian orientation . This will be the 3rd amaranth that I have tried. The others were delicious, especially as summer salad greens but I'd like a little larger plants ... although, maybe not as big as Prince's Plume in the ornamentals .

This family is interesting how the plants respond to temperatures. Some of the size problem with the first edible amaranth that I grew may have had to do with when it was planted in the spring. It hates the cool weather! Beets and chard flourish. The slightest uptick to the thermometer and spinach is finished. Amaranth loves it! Fall frost - it's dead. Chard has another 6 weeks.

Ya know, chard is a pretty good green. If it only took me 50 years to learn that, it's embarrassing ... especially thinking that baby beets might be my favorite vegetable . We live and learn ... or, we miss the boat.

Steve

 

[Ridgerunner]

When I cook chard i strip the green leaves off the stem and do not use the stem. My wife likes the leaves but not the stem.