Grow Some Beets

Beets harvested fresh from the garden not only are high in nutrients, but also have a delectable flavor and an appealing texture.

By Charlie Nardozzi

Beets have gotten a bad rap. Most people know these red orbs as the overcooked, canned, side dish that everyone "should" eat because it's good for you. That's a shame, because beets harvested fresh from the garden not only are high in nutrients, but also have a delectable flavor and an appealing texture. Also, beet varieties include a number of colored roots such as golden and red-and-white striped. Plus, beet greens are a tasty addition to salads, soups, and stews. Beets are one of the few vegetables where you can eat the entire plant: root, shoot, leaf, and all.

Beets love cool weather and can tolerate part shade Sow beet seeds around the last expected frost date for your area. Sow seeds in rows or broadcast on top of a raised bed amended with compost. Space seeds 1 inch apart. No matter how good you are at spacing the seeds, beets will get overcrowded. That's because a beet seed is actually a dried up fruit with multiple seeds in it. Often one beet "seed" will produce three to four beet seedlings. Cover the beet bed with a floating row cover to prevent animals from digging in the freshly sown bed and to keep the seeds moist.

Once beets germinate, thin the seedlings, leaving the healthiest seedlings and spacing the beet roots at least 3 to 4 inches apart. Use the thinnings in salads; baby beet greens are tender and tasty. Keep the bed well watered and weeded. Depending on your variety, harvest beets when they're golf ball sized. Don't let them grow too large or the roots may become woody. Harvest beets before the summer heat arrives, and sow seeds again in late summer for a fall harvest.

If you don't like the staining red juice of beets, consider growing 'Golden', which has stain-free juice, or 'Chioggia', which is an Italian heirloom with white-and-red stripes. If you want red-colored beet greens, try 'Bull's Blood'.