Plant 10cm apart with 30cm between rows.
Beetroot are easy to grow and do not take up much space. They look pretty in containers where the round varieties do best.
Prepare the soil to give an even depth of fine particles and remove any stones.
Water the tray of beetroot the night before planting out so that it is well soaked.
Remove one plant from the tray by gently holding the beetroot stem with finger and thumb whilst spreading other fingers over the tray, tipping the tray upside down and gently shaking the plant out. The picture below shows the tiny white hairy roots growing in the soil from the beetroot plant.
Make a hole in the soil the size of the root ball. Place the root ball into the planting hole and gently push the soil around the roots to fill in the hole. Firm the plant in so that the roots are in contact with the soil.
Beetroot are either monogerm or multigerm. Monogerm varieties only have one embryo in the seed and produce one seedling per seed. Multigerm varieties produce a clump of two or three seedlings from each ‘seed’ which will need to be thinned out to leave one seedling. The best way to do this is to select the best plant in the cluster, and then trim the leaves off all the others at their base with sharp scissors. This will leave the roots undisturbed. The trimmed plants will not regrow. Do this thinning after the root ball has been planted, as in the paragraph above.
Plant out the rest of the tray so that the beetroot are 10cm apart with 30cm between rows.
Water the newly planted beetroot so that the soil is soaked. Use a can with a rose which will give a soft spray and not damage the leaves. Keep the soil damp until the plants are established. Once the beetroot is growing well they will only need water when the soil dries out and the leaves start to wilt.
Weed the beetroot regularly so that they do not have any competition for water, nutrients or sunlight. It is easy to pull weeds out by hand as they appear. A hoe must be used carefully as it may damage the young beet.
Harvest the beet when it has reached the size of a golf ball. Do not let it get any bigger than a cricket ball because it may get woody. Pull every other root when they are golf ball size, leaving the middle one to grow a little larger. Then pick the largest ones first, so that they do not get too big.
To harvest the beet get hold of the base of the leaf mass and pull the root out of the ground. Twist the leaves off the beet leaving about 5cm of stem. If the stem is too short it will ‘bleed’ when cooked and the beetroot will lose its colour.
Store beetroot in a cool, airy, dark frost-free shed. They will keep several months if pulled in October before the frosts.
Plant another tray of beetroot every 3 or 4 weeks until the end of July to give a continual supply. Using different varieties each time can give a variation in size, shape and taste. The traditional dark beet has an earthy taste but the lighter brighter beet tend to have a sweeter milder flavour.
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