Growing Beetroot Vegetables

2009-01-10T19:27:00.001-08:00

Beetroot the vegetable is eaten cold by many as it adds good amount of tasty splash of deep red to any summer salad. You can also eat hot beetroot with an amount of hot sauce to spice up the salt-sugar taste. Many make homemade wines out of beetroot due to its high sugar content and preserve it for over 6 months as 'Beet' stands up for versatility. The most prominently used Beetroot is the 'Bolthardy' form as they can be sowed easily whenever you want. It mixes well with the soil lasting into an early spring keeping itself fresh and sweet.

SOIL PREPARATION

An ideal soil for beetroot would be medium to light, a bit alkaline and well-dug which has not been manure recently (resulting into misshapen roots) under normal conditions. The best soil would be the one previously used for growing onions, beans or peas etc during the autumn season which has become more fertile with the winter frost breaking it even more for a better growth of the beetroot. Make sure you remove as many stones as you can while digging, for the beetroot to grow deeper without any hurdles.

SOWING AND PLANTING

The most appropriate time for sowing beetroot is around mid-April when the dangerous hard frost had gone past. Also, to avoid glut, make sure you plant the beetroot seeds in batches until mid-July. This would be perfect time required for the crop to fully grow in a big and deep beetroot. Whereas, if you like to have the beetroot somewhere around 3 to 4 weeks earlier then you can make use of a small cloche or polytunnel. This polytunnel should be placed in position almost 2 weeks. Just before sowing the seeds, soak them in water for like an hour or so which you would want for immediate plantation. Soaking will help in removal of any chemical material from the seeds. You can then clean them with the help of a towel and then sow them around 2.5 cm or 1 inch deep under the soil at a distance of around 30 cm apart from each other. Make sure you water the soil if it happens to dry out. You shall see small seedlings starting to appear within 2 weeks time. Each seed would have around 2 or 4 of these seedlings clusters growing at the minimum around 5 cm within 15 days.

LOOKING AFTER THE PLANTS

Protect the seedlings from birds as far as possible as they are the biggest threat. Cover up the area with nets if there are too many birds around. Another way of protecting the seedlings is by covering them with plastic bottles (top and bottom cut apart). This is one of the best methods of protecting your plants. Watering is a necessity as beetroots are all water savvy plants. Slight rock salt around the beetroot plants will help in avoiding foliage.

WHEN TO HARVEST

Mostly harvesting begins after 9 weeks of sowing the seeds. By this time best quality beetroot bulbs have grown around 8 cm in diameter making them perfect for salads or stockpiling as they are completely free from diseases and pests.