Beets; Don't be intimidated!

**camprn** 6/16/2014, 6:45 pm

Some years are good and some years are bad for growing beets and I'm not entirely sure why. I have a feeling this is going to be a good year!!

http://awaytogarden.com/grow-beets-brian-campbell/

Denese 6/17/2014, 2:51 pm

camprn wrote:Some years are good and some years are bad for growing beets and I'm not entirely sure why. I have a feeling this is going to be a good year!!

http://awaytogarden.com/grow-beets-brian-campbell/

And, of course, I decided not to attempt them this year. I have such lousy luck with them never bulbing. Just usually get lots of greens! Very Happy

**camprn** 6/17/2014, 3:01 pm

Denese wrote:
camprn wrote:Some years are good and some years are bad for growing beets and I'm not entirely sure why. I have a feeling this is going to be a good year!!

http://awaytogarden.com/grow-beets-brian-campbell/

And, of course, I decided not to attempt them this year. I have such lousy luck with them never bulbing. Just usually get lots of greens!

Hey it is certainly not too late. I'm still sowing beets and we are in similar zones. ANd beet greens are delish!

Denese 6/17/2014, 7:23 pm

Actually, I will have a couple open squares soon. Maybe I'll give 'em a try again. Very Happy

Camprn, how do you eat your beet greens. I tried throwing them in a salad once, and it didn't go over well with DH. But, he didn't mind the radish greens. Laughing

I've never cooked them.

**sanderson** 6/18/2014, 1:15 am

DH will eat beet and radish leaves if sauteed. Salt and pepper. Or with a little diced bacon or ham with a dash of Tony Chachere's.

**camprn** 6/18/2014, 6:52 am

I steam or saute them, a little vinegar or Italian dressing, delicious! Highly nutritious !!

CapeCoddess 6/18/2014, 10:02 am

Denese wrote: I have such lousy luck with them never bulbing. Just usually get lots of greens!

Me, too. This year I'm growing them just for the greens. But in the Answer Book, Mel says that adding a bit of boron to the watering can will help them to bulb up. I think he suggests using Borax, which I did. It worked for me on one square but not others. I think I eat too many of the greens before they finish bulbing up. Rolling Eyes

CC

**Scorpio Rising** 4/24/2016, 5:31 pm

Planted 2 squares of beets today, direct seeded Chioggia and Ruby Queen (which I had great luck with last year!). Loves my beets! cherry

audrey.jeanne.roberts 4/25/2016, 12:38 am

We harvested our first beets of the year yesterday. I found a recipe online that was REALLY good.

1. Wash and peel beets (I do this to help get rid of the dirt taste some beets get)
2. Preheat over to 350.
3. Put the beets on a cookie sheet after tossing with some olive oil, lightly salt and pepper.
4. Cook 45 minutes or so until tender.
5. Mix fresh thyme (if you have it, dried if not), vinegar (I used pomegranate) and some orange juice and pour it on the beets.
6. Gobble them up before someone else does!!!

SO GOOD!

landarch 4/25/2016, 2:14 pm

I've grown several varieties in the past an have finally landed on Cylindra. I've done an entire 4x4 box in beets; half with transplants started indoors in soil blocks, half seeded.

That said, love the beet root, don't really like the tops so much. Wife thinks they taste like dirt.
couple problems. 1) some beets are well formed and some with no root at all, even in the same square, 2) I had dampening off one fall planting.

I took a pic last night...maybe I can post this evening.

Cajun Cappy 4/25/2016, 3:06 pm

I thought I'd mention that we grow beets for the greens as much as the roots. They are amazing when cooked like other greens and make a quite pretty mess of greens with their beet colored veins.

BeetlesPerSqFt 4/25/2016, 4:21 pm

landarch wrote:
That said, love the beet root, don't really like the tops so much. Wife thinks they taste like dirt.

I don't like beet tops much, myself - about the same reason. A friend mentioned a trick that makes them pretty good - cook them with fish sauce. If you don't have fish sauce, a good tamari or soy sauce might be worth a try.

**Scorpio Rising** 4/25/2016, 6:07 pm

landarch wrote:I've grown several varieties in the past an have finally landed on Cylindra. I've done an entire 4x4 box in beets; half with transplants started indoors in soil blocks, half seeded.

That said, love the beet root, don't really like the tops so much. Wife thinks they taste like dirt.
couple problems. 1) some beets are well formed and some with no root at all, even in the same square, 2) I had dampening off one fall planting.

I took a pic last night...maybe I can post this evening.

I have had that exact thing with certain radishes! Same square, totally different formation of bulbs, some none, some great? Beets did OK. I think too much nitrogen can encourage foliage growth, is this true? I heard that....not sure where

Swiss chard is a beet relative that tastes better in my opinion and is just as pretty as beet tops. I like it a lot, sautéed, EVOO, garlic, sweet onion maybe....good tamari is nice too!

landarch 4/25/2016, 11:10 pm

Here is a shot of my 4x4 box dedicated to beets (no grid to get more plants in). The front half of the box are transplants started early indoors in soil blocks...the back half of the box was direct seeded a few weeks ago. (they need thinned). All are Cylindra.

**Scorpio Rising** 4/26/2016, 10:19 pm

Nice! Love beets I love you

BeetlesPerSqFt 7/6/2017, 6:08 pm

I harvested the best (aka biggest) beets from three of my beet squares a few days ago (also a big head of curly endive; I made a roasted beet salad.) My beets were started inside and transplanted out. One cylindra, 2 guardsmark chiogga, and 2 touchstone gold.

**Scorpio Rising** 7/6/2017, 10:18 pm

Beautiful! Love beets! I have Chiogga and Detroit Red growing now!

CapeCoddess 7/7/2017, 12:51 pm

That photo of the cut up beets should be on a calendar! YUMMO!

**Scorpio Rising** 7/8/2017, 9:23 pm

CapeCoddess wrote:That photo of the cut up beets should be on a calendar! YUMMO!

Yes! What do the golden ones taste like, Beetles? Are they milder? Or less "beety"?

BeetlesPerSqFt 7/9/2017, 7:54 am

Scorpio Rising wrote:
CapeCoddess wrote:That photo of the cut up beets should be on a calendar! YUMMO!
Yes! What do the golden ones taste like, Beetles? Are they milder? Or less "beety"?

I'd say they do taste less earthy. I'm not sure whether they were also sweeter, or if it was just that the sweetness was able to shine better.

CapeCoddess 7/9/2017, 9:36 am

Scorpio Rising wrote:Beautiful! Love beets! I have Chiogga and Detroit Red growing now!

Me too. But I took both packs and all the other packs of Beets I had, mixed them all together and that's what I broadcast into the beetbox before I went into the hospital. They are taking a really long time tho because the box is in mostly shade. I hope they do something soon...at least before the turkeys start eating the itty bitty leaves.
Evil or Very Mad

**Scorpio Rising** 7/9/2017, 11:25 am

BeetlesPerSqFt wrote:
Scorpio Rising wrote:
CapeCoddess wrote:That photo of the cut up beets should be on a calendar! YUMMO!
Yes! What do the golden ones taste like, Beetles? Are they milder? Or less "beety"?
I'd say they do taste less earthy. I'm not sure whether they were also sweeter, or if it was just that the sweetness was able to shine better.

Gotcha.

CC, have they germinated?

Robbomb116 7/9/2017, 12:11 pm

I have some white beets planted. "Avalanche". I decided on that cause my wife really doesn't like the earthy taste. These were reported to have even less earthy taste than golden beets. In fact one of the AAS judges said he doesn't like beets, but loved these. Still hoping they start bulbing up!

CapeCoddess 7/9/2017, 1:19 pm

Scorpio Rising wrote:

CC, have they germinated?

Yes, but they're just Wee Ones right now. I'm always pretty far behind everyone else. Heck, I'm still harvesting and eating sugar snap peas and asparagus. Rolling Eyes

I'll post a photo in the New England thread later.

Rob, those white beets sound really interesting. No staining. I'll be anxious to hear how they taste.

SwampTroll 7/9/2017, 2:24 pm

CapeCoddess wrote:
Scorpio Rising wrote:

CC, have they germinated?

Yes, but they're just Wee Ones right now. I'm always pretty far behind everyone else. Heck, I'm still harvesting and eating sugar snap peas and asparagus. I'll post a photo in the New England thread later.

Rob, those white beets sound really interesting. No staining. I'll be anxious to hear how they taste.

Cape Coddess, if you're harvesting things from your garden you're not behind everyone. Razz

Most of what I have is just in the sprout stage. Only thing that is a bit further ahead are my Indigo tomatoes. Everything else is short and small.

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