Guide to growing Beetroot.
Beetroot are cool season vegetables that will quickly grow and come in many different varieties, they also come in a wide variety of colors – deep red, yellow and white. Being a cool season vegetable they can survive frost and almost freezing temperatures, which makes them a good choice for gardeners living in more northern climates and an excellent long-season crop.
This guide takes you through the stages of growing Beetroot. If you have already planted your Beetroot and are ready to harvest go here for advice.
Planting
- Beets need good nutrition and a high pH level (about 5.5) to germinate. Add some aged manure to the ground before planting the seeds. If you live in an area that is dry and has little rain fall you may want to soak the seeds over night before planting.
- Keep a check on the soil temperature and only plant when it reaches 50 degrees.
- Plant seeds 3 to 6 cm apart and put them about 2 cm down in the ground.
- Keep the ground wet to aid with germination.
- You may get more than 1 seedling per seed, so you will want to remove the extra before they grow too much. Pinch these off when they are about 5cm tall.
- When the plants are established you will want to spread them out leaving a space of about 8 to 12 cm between them.
- They need to retain plenty of moisture, so water well and apply mulch to help keep the dampness in the soil.
Harvesting
You want to harvest when the Beet is about the size of a tennis ball as these are the sweetest beets. At this size they are easy to pull. You can grow larger beets if you wish but make sure that you keep them well watered, failing to do so will result in them becoming tough and woody.
Storage – If you have grown enough for storage, then you will want to harvest these on a dry day late in the season – around the end of September or the start of October. Pull them by hand if possible, a fork can be used to loosen roots around the plant being careful not to damage the root.
Remove the foliage to about 50 mm(2″) above the crown, twist the foliage off
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