Beets

Scientific name: Beta vulgaris
Beta vulgaris
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Type:
Annual
USDA hardiness zones:
-

This cool season root vegetable is edible from top to bottom, with green leaves that are best steamed and vibrantly colored roots for eating raw, or cooked in a multitude of ways. While easy to grow, fluctuating temperatures will create white rings in the roots and effect their quality. Cultivars of this easy to grow plant are available with red stems and veins making them showy in the landscape.

  • Easy

Beets can be started inside, in cold frames, or directly out as soon as soil is workable.
When selecting a planting location bear in mind that beets are biennials and that they are close cousins to Spinach and Swiss Chard so don't rotate them together.

Stagger plantings every 3 weeks, until about 10 weeks before your hard freeze. Seeds should be sown ¾ inch (2 cm) deep spaced an inch (2.5 cm) apart in rows 1 foot to 1 1/2 ft. (30 - 46 cm) apart. The seedball has multiple seeds in it, unless you buy specially prepared seed so you will want to thin seedlings to 4 inches (10 cm) or 6 inches (15 cm) for larger winter storage roots. Cut to remove the young plants at about 5 inches (13 cm) tall since their roots will be tangled together. During the first growing season the young beets put their energy into a large root, and then after winter they send up a flower stalk in the second season. A couple of weeks below 45F (7C) can trick plants into thinking winter has occurred which will result in a premature flower stalk. Consider choosing one of the newer cultivars bred to avoid this premature flower growth if you have unpredictable climate. Weed well but don't over fertilize as this promotes top growth at the expense of the root.

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Gardens with this plant

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Groundskeeper replied almost 3 years ago
The humble beet is one of those obliging plants that gardeners over centuries have bred for many uses--chubby roots, tender leaves, sweetness, even for leaf stalks with paintbox colors. Swiss chard comes from a beet bred for large, tender leaves. Forage beets are bred for huge roots and sugary flesh and are fed to farm animals. Sugar beets are bred for a high content of sugar and are one source, along with sugar cane, of refining sugar. Beets for the table are a good source of folic acid, vital for healthy pregnancy!
Groundskeeper replied over 2 years ago
The Beet Goes On - Beets are one of those hardy vegetables (like parsnips, salsify, and carrots) that you can leave in the ground and harvest during winter. They stay ready for the kitchen as long as they don’t freeze. I once visited the garden maintained by the PBS show "The Victory Garden" in Boston on a day in mid-winter when the cold was doubled by wet air. Kip, the gardener, pulled up big beets while his fingers turned blue and my toes froze.
Groundskeeper replied over 2 years ago
In such cold climates, beets need protection over the winter. If a heap of dry leaves covered with a tarp will keep the ground open in your climate, as they did in the Victory Garden, you can have beets all winter. If not leaves, cover the bed with bales of straw and tip the bales out of the way, dig beets, and tip the bales back. In a warmer climate, a hoop house or a tunnel will protect the crop.
Groundskeeper replied over 2 years ago
Garden beets are biennials (they have a two-year life cycle). You start them from seeds in Spring, the young plants make a taproot and a clump of leaves, the taproot gains girth during the growing season, then frost kills the leaves and the taproot puts on its cap for a long winter nap. In spring, the taproot wakes up, sends up leaves, then a flower stalk that makes a cloud of nondescript flowers. The finale is a crop of seeds to start next year’s show.
Groundskeeper replied over 2 years ago
Beets are civilized. They were domesticated here and there around the Mediterranean 3,000 years ago. The wild ancestor had a taproot that did not know how to be a beet. Gardeners coaxed it to swell but couldn’t overcome its biennial habit. So we grow it as an annual. In cold climates we plant it in spring and harvest the beets in fall. In climates that are hot in the growing season, we sow the seeds in fall, grow the plants over the winter, and harvest the crop in spring.
Groundskeeper replied over 2 years ago
There are many cultivars of domestic beets. They taste like beets, grow in different sizes and shapes and stain your cutting board and hands purple, unless they’re yellow or white. To reduce stains, bake the beets whole and then peel them.

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