Tell me your beet secrets!!!!

[jackb]

We love beet greens, so I plant a batch every other week, year round, and grow them indoors, hydroponically. I find that early wonder is the best variety for the way I grow them; it takes five weeks from seed to pot.

 

[ducks4you]

Find out the weeds that you can tolerate and let some of them grow alongside your beets. HERE is why--notice the eaten weed leaves and the not-eaten beet leaves.

These weeds do not have deep roots (while they're small). I leave them in the bed until it's time to harvest the beets. If I remove them early, I have to replant beet seedlings. The beets enjoy the shade, they keep the bed moister longer, and they keep out other weeds.

 

[April Manier]

I planted Baker Creek Crapaudine beets this year and not a single one germinated.

The crapaudines seemed like a great idea to me too. Easier to peel because of the shape I was quick to sign up, however, i too had baaad germination. But I find Baker creek is really hit or miss.

We do not hill our beets. I find that weeding keeps the tops covered and we top dress for good measure. We do however use the cultivating tractor on them which tosses up dirt onto them.

 

[Teka]

Tattler lids are on sale, sort of! The site has free shippings, and is bundling sets of 3 dozen lids at a reduced price. The time is limited. They have bulk sales now too -- find some friends and split a bulk purchase!

 

[Teka]

The hydroponic plantsa are beautiful! Wonder how they'd do in a cold frame in winter????

Here was my first big harvest about a fifth of the row. I put up eight jars of pickled beets in addition to eating a ton of them fresh! And more beets on the way. There are 5 varieties here, but Torpedo and Detroit Red are my favories so far. Success!

 

[digitS']

Congratulations!

My beets have had some problems this year. They were sown a little too close to the neighbor's raspberry/grape jungle in the big veggie garden. The rabbit ate on the seedlings to where it seemed wise to replace them with cucumbers in that bed .

I have a little patch of beets in the smaller veggie garden now. I'm just planning to keep all of them until they make a nice harvest of small beets & greens. Usually, I have so many extra - this year, there are precious few.

Steve

 

[GreeneGarden]

As stated previously, plant early. I just wanted to emphasize that. It is critical.
Plant as soon as your extension agency in your area says you can.
I do not thin. Beet seeds are conglomeratesclusters of multiple seeds.
If you pull out one you can damage the others. Just harvest regularly to make room for the ones that are slower.
Do not overplant. I use a Jang Seeder JP-1 to evenly space them.
I do not presoak since the seeder will not work with soaked seed.
I keep the beets weeded early but then once the beets are up I mulch.
A few weeds after that is no big deal.
When harvesting pull the whole long root.
Soak in water overnight to reduce bitterness.

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