- edelweiss
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- Location: Ontario, Canada,Zone 5 B
RED BEETS
My husband and I started this spring to eat raw red beets and have ever since. You know hearing all the health news about these beautiful beets. So, I am wondering when to grow beets, how, do rabbits, skunks and raccoon 's like them ( like to be for warned) Does anybody grow red beets? Looking forward to hear from you
- jal_ut
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Yes, red beets are great! I usually cook them though. The greens are excellent too. I have not had trouble with critters eating them.
Plant them quite early, probably mid April will work where you are. You can also plant some later........ as late as July 1 for a late crop. Put the seed about an inch deep and one seed every two inches in a row. Be advised that the little crinkly "seed" is actually a capsule with several seeds in it. You will need to thin even spreading the seed out like that.
Plant them quite early, probably mid April will work where you are. You can also plant some later........ as late as July 1 for a late crop. Put the seed about an inch deep and one seed every two inches in a row. Be advised that the little crinkly "seed" is actually a capsule with several seeds in it. You will need to thin even spreading the seed out like that.
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I grow them a couple times a year and have some coming up now. Like James (jal-ut) mentioned, the seeds are in clusters and need separating. I find if I let them get about 3 inches tall and very carefully take a small hand trowel to uproot the cluster, I can separate them and transplant them with pretty good success. No matter how careful you are, you are going to lose some. Just try to keep the ground moist until they recover and they will do fine.
I ate a lot of canned beets as a kid and fresh is so much better that you'll want to grow them again if you have success with your crop.
I ate a lot of canned beets as a kid and fresh is so much better that you'll want to grow them again if you have success with your crop.
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- PunkRotten
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This was a year to not grow so many beets. DW doesn't eat them even tho' baby beets may be my favorite vegetable .
Only 1 row of beet seeds were sown. They were near my neighbor's raspberry/grape jungle. Too close! Mr. Rabbit lives in there and tends to eat anything that grows close. He ate on them so hard that some died. The plants in that bed just didn't grow.
Move off several miles to the "Shady Corner" garden. Probably a little too much shade there for beets but there was room so a replacement row went into 1 of those beds. The plants had just begun to reach a nice size and we'd had one little harvest and something showed up and really tore them up! Well, didn't tear them out of the ground but ripped up the leaves. I don't know what it was. We had a family of pheasant that liked that garden another year but the lettuce was left alone and that was their favorite.
My guess is that a marmot came thru. I have seen these critters near that garden in earlier years but never had problems there as elsewhere. Marmots are groundhog cousins - big squirrels. Something sure chewed them up. Once again, the damage was so bad that the beet plants didn't recover well and I only got a few more.
Steve
Only 1 row of beet seeds were sown. They were near my neighbor's raspberry/grape jungle. Too close! Mr. Rabbit lives in there and tends to eat anything that grows close. He ate on them so hard that some died. The plants in that bed just didn't grow.
Move off several miles to the "Shady Corner" garden. Probably a little too much shade there for beets but there was room so a replacement row went into 1 of those beds. The plants had just begun to reach a nice size and we'd had one little harvest and something showed up and really tore them up! Well, didn't tear them out of the ground but ripped up the leaves. I don't know what it was. We had a family of pheasant that liked that garden another year but the lettuce was left alone and that was their favorite.
My guess is that a marmot came thru. I have seen these critters near that garden in earlier years but never had problems there as elsewhere. Marmots are groundhog cousins - big squirrels. Something sure chewed them up. Once again, the damage was so bad that the beet plants didn't recover well and I only got a few more.
Steve
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I have grated beets for salad too, and use them in my daily juice if I have too many to eat.
Most people know the trick of when boiling beets to cook them, leave on the roots and about an inch of the stem. That way all the red doesn't bleed into the water.
Another great way to cook them is simply bake them as you would a potato. Again, leaving on the root and some stem. When they come out, the skin comes off easily, and the flavor is incredible, since no moisture or color is lost.
Most people know the trick of when boiling beets to cook them, leave on the roots and about an inch of the stem. That way all the red doesn't bleed into the water.
Another great way to cook them is simply bake them as you would a potato. Again, leaving on the root and some stem. When they come out, the skin comes off easily, and the flavor is incredible, since no moisture or color is lost.
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I till up the soil real good then hill it up in rows. I can only get it hilled up about 8 or 9 inches high but other gardeners hill it up about a foot. Plant the seeds in the top of the hill and keep them moist. Adding a hummus and manure mixtue (sold in bags) to the soil has helped my beets develope better. I've found they don't do well in hot weather either. good luck!
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- Location: Northern Kentucky
I till up the soil real good then hill it up in rows. I can only get it hilled up about 8 or 9 inches high but other gardeners hill it up about a foot. Plant the seeds in the top of the hill and keep them moist. Adding a hummus and manure mixtue (sold in bags) to the soil has helped my beets develope better. I've found they don't do well in hot weather either. good luck!
Beats like loose soil, so a good organic rich soil works well with beats and any root crop. I start every thing in the green house, just my way of getting a jump on the season and knowing what are weeds. I have a deer fence with a rabbit fence at the bottom around my garden so I can't say how much the rabbits eat them.
- ElizabethB
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I waited too late for cool weahter planting. G picked up a nice bunch of beats yesterday with lots of nice greens. I rinsed te greens then cooked them in the water clinging to the leaves and a little salt, pepper and butter until just tender. My favorite green. I cubed and boiled the beets with salt pepper, tsp of olive oil and a tbsp of butter. Lovely. For lunch today I made a cold beet salad. Added boiled egg and parsley to the cold beets.
Really one of my fave root crops. I like greens but beet greens are #1 for me.
Raw and shredded in a salad is to die for.
Really one of my fave root crops. I like greens but beet greens are #1 for me.
Raw and shredded in a salad is to die for.
- ElizabethB
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Rabbits will eat beets down to nothing, given half a chance. At our Nevada place we have a fence to keep out the horses, the garden is in a smaller fenced area to keep out the rabbits, mice and a type of chipmonk of whatever. We had to put a hot wire around the bottom which was the best thing to keep out the critters. Last year we had a good crop of beets, we liked them raw, cooked and pickled. Have a great season.
Richard
Richard