This article might be about beets, but it isn’t a beat up. The information I’m about to give you will get to the root of how to grow a ton of beet roots.
Beetroot, in my opinion, is an underrated vegetable. And I think the reason why you hear people claim that “ooh, I hate beetroot”, is because they’ve only ever tried the canned, pickled in vinegar way of preserving them. Don’t get me wrong. Lots of people, like me, love pickled beetroot. But, this method has become such a dominant way to keep and serve them that you could be forgiven for thinking this is the only way, but that’s not true. Beets are extremely versatile. Yes, the roots can be cooked and pickled. But the leaves can also be, in fact, did you know that when humans first started growing beets, they grew it for the leaves only? And then it was only later that they found out that the roots were even better to eat. Beetroot can be roasted, dehydrated, used as a natural food coloring, pureed, added to smoothies, and even baked into cakes to make rich sweets. So if you are one of those who can’t stand pickled beetroot, look, try it in some other ways because this super cancer-fighting food is full of antioxidants and worth including in your diet for the health benefits alone.
Tip Number 1
Beets are generally an easy, low maintenance crop to grow as long as you set the medium up right. Because if you don’t, you can risk the beet root itself cracking or even rotting. Beets are one of those annoying crops that like constant moisture but hate waterlogging. It’s the avocado tree for vegetables. So I have to say, getting the medium just right for beets is a little trickier than it is for other types of vegetables. Get the mix too free-draining, and the beets will suffer water stress. But if the medium is too heavy, you risk root rot and more diseases. I took a bit of time over the past 12 months to create a good soil balance in this reasonably new raised garden bed that was extra free-draining but also held water and nutrients. The way I did this was to mix some heavier soil scavenged from around our property with plenty of organic matter like compost and mulch, but the best ingredient was poultry manure slash mulch mix from our chickens and quail. This stuff has lots of nutrients but still holds water without getting too sticky like clay. Now if you don’t have a poultry mix, you can use any other types of manures such as horse and cow. But just be a little careful. Use it sparingly because it’s heavier than poultry manures. What I would do is use it a little bit at a time until you get that right consistency dug into the bed. For beetroot, you want the soil to be able to hold water for at least a few days. But if it’s still quite wet just underneath the surface after say three or four days, the soil might be a little too wet. So, you might consider adding some organic matter to it like some extra compost and mulch sort of dug in to free that soil up, even a little bit of gypsum. And that way, it could help with the drainage. If you are unsure, you’re better off having a garden bed with soil that’s a little too free-draining than too heavy because all you need to do is water more often. Whereas heavier soils tend to create an anaerobic environment, lack of oxygen, around the roots’ end of the plants, which most veggies don’t like, especially beetroots. Hang on. That’s strange. Did
Tip Number 2
Tip number two, don’t thin seedlings out. Most books and seed packets will tell you to sow the seeds, and then prick the seedlings out once they’ve germinated, and space them around 25 centimeters apart along your bed or row. There’s nothing wrong with that. Except, I reckon the spacing of seedlings unnecessarily spreads out the growing area too much and limits the production potential. Plus, I think it’s not looking and seeing nature through her eyes. I mean, why else would beetroot grow seeds in clusters instead of individually?. So why not let it do that? In my experience, letting the beets grow naturally is not only easier. The plants grow just as well, if not better, because they seem to like growing close, and there’s no transplant shock to set the growth back when it’s trying to establish all over again. That’s why I prefer to set beetroot, where they are to grow. I’m never particular about spacing, and I thin out as the plants are growing for baby beets, not in the beginning for spacing out.
Tip Number 3
Tip number three, keep the water up. Speaking about growing close together, and also before about growing in free-draining soil, you might find your beets are a thirsty bunch. Beetroot needs a lot to drink, and can quickly suffer a water loss due to sustaining those large leaves plus the bulb. So keep an eye on the plants, and water at the first signs of wilt especially in the morning or afternoon. Try to water your beets regularly. Inconsistent watering leads to cracking, poor growth, and ordinary tasting beets. Now don’t beat yourself up if occasionally you come out, and you find your beats collapsed down. This can sometimes happen quickly, and it’s due to a lack of water.
Tip Number 4
Tip number four, grow with some protection. Most veggies don’t like to grow in the shade. And that’s why I recommend to people if they’re going to site their vegetable garden to site it in the place where it gets the most sun. However, beetroot are an exception. Well, slightly. Beets do benefit from a cover crop to protect them from too much sun. Beetroot hates the midday heat. Here through our winter, now coming into spring, our maximum daily temperatures are around 25 to 28 degrees Celsius. And even this moderate warmth can stress the beets out. That’s why we start our beet crop here in our warm subtropical climate in autumn to grow through winter and then harvesting in early spring. Because then you escape the hot summer sun, and you grow through the coolest part of the year. So if you’re in a cold climate, you would then plant as soon as possible after winter, letting them grow and mature through spring, harvesting in early summer. I wouldn’t recommend growing beets in full shade or even dappled shade. And although beets will grow okay in as little as four to six hours of sunlight, eight to 10 is better. But I have found that slight protection from a cover crop like peas will reduce the heat stress enough to keep the beets happy and growing well. Beets will germinate and grow at the wrong time of year, even in our hot summers. But apart from the heat stress making them grow poorly, they will also suffer more from pests and disease. On the other hand if you grow beets at the right time of year for your climate, you really shouldn’t have much trouble from pests or diseases. A few chewed leaves are nothing to worry about or some fungal spots. You can trim them off, but overall, it won’t affect root development.
Tip Number 5
Tip number five, harvesting. Now I’ve already harvested this for the first tip. So this’ll be the second time. Anyway, let’s get into it. (leaves rustling) Where do I start? I think down this end. (rustling) (snapping) (chirping) (rustling and snapping) Harvest larger ones during the growing season as baby beets, then let the rest grow on to develop larger roots. Because of this crowd growing method and then being close together you still find that there will be some beets that haven’t developed very much. You can either leave them in if you’ve got time in the season, or just simply pull them out and refurbish the bed. But overall, you’re still going to get a good crop. Harvest the leaves at any time to use in salads or stir fries. Even out the harvesting by picking a few leaves from each plant so you don’t overgraze. Don’t let them get too woody. You can see this by the thick skin starting to form on the root. So, pick them before they get too old. The best tasting beetroot size, in my opinion, are the ones around the size of a squash ball, but it really depends on the variety. And, we’ve had plenty of really big beets that have been sweet, sweet, sweet. (rustling) (bird squawking) If you do leave them a little too long in ground and they do go woody on you, you can still boil the woody ones up and make a tasty puree soup. Beets will keep for several months in the crisper, and they will continue to hold firm and hard. So, if you want to use them fresh on demand for roasting, et cetera, this is a great way to store them. And here, you have it. Wow. What a ripper. I am very happy with that. You know, this isn’t a huge variety. So, it’s a medium size variety of beet anyway. So, I wasn’t expecting huge beets, you know, but these are still good sized. They’re different shapes. Some of them are smaller than a golf ball. Others, you know, are much bigger. But they’ll all go very well. And, they’ll be excellent tasting. They are superb product at the moment. They’re not too old. They’re not too young. But speaking of young, you can see that, let’s put these down. You can see that the bed has still got a lot of beetroot in it because I didn’t take it all out. I left the small ones in there. Some of them were sacrificed. They came out with the pulling. That doesn’t matter because, you know, there was plenty when we first sewed them anyway, and we didn’t thin them out. So, that gave us that redundancy.
And now that the larger ones have been removed, which was a huge harvest, we’ve still got some time in the season. Still cool enough over this next four weeks or so for them to grow well, swell in size. And we’ll get another maybe half as much again or similar. Maybe half as much, I would say out of that. Plus you’re eating the leaves, as well. So, that is the way to do it when you’re growing a ton of beetroot. I hope you enjoyed this article.
