How to Grow Beets
How to Grow Beets
**Beets are an amazing vegetable: they are extremely nutritious and you can eat both the beets and the greens.
**Beets are best eaten young/small because that is when they are their sweetest and tastiest.
**One of the best things about beets is that you can sow them throughout the year for an almost continuous supply.
How to Grow Beets: Position of Plants:
**They do best in a sunny position, in a light, sandy soil.
**They prefer a soil of pH 6.5-7.0. Click here for a soil testing kit.
Propagation:
**Try to sow beets through the year so that you have a regular, continuous supply. Start in early spring by sowing seeds indoors and use bolt-resistant varieties. In late spring, when the risk of frost has passed, begin sowing directly outdoors.
**Beet seeds can be difficult to germinate. Soak the seeds in warm water for 30 minutes before sowing them in order to soften them and wash out the germination inhibitor.
**Thin out the weakest plantlings so that the plants are approx. 2 inches apart in rows that are 6 inches apart.
Maintenance:
**Once the plants are established and the roots are starting to swell, water moderately unless the conditions are very dry.
**Overwatering will only encourage leaf growth but underwatering will cause the outer leaves to turn yellow and the roots to become woody.
**Keep your rows well weeded and give them a boost of fish emulsion (like this one) once or twice to give them some extra nitrogen, manganese, and boron.
Harvesting:
Do you grow Beets? What is your favorite Variety?
For further reading on Beets:
**Learn how to make Dehydrated Beet Chips from It’s a Love/Love Thing
**How to make Homemade Kvass by Homemade Mommy
**How to make Picked Beets by Small Footprint Family
**How to make Fermented Beets by Oh Lardy
**10 Reasons why Beets are Awesome by Mix Wellness
**Beet Salad by Fostering Nutrition
**Red Velvet Cupcakes (dyed red with beets!) by Gutsy by Nature
**Make Beet Juice Simple Syrup by Butter Nutrition
**Beet Pancakes by Butter Nutrition
