peas planted!

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Monday, August 25, 2008

harvest of big beets

beet harvest
a beet in the hand chiooga beets
I just love great big, dark red beets. I pulled lots of them this weekend. The big dark ones are a variety called Lutz. They are recommended as good winter keepers. I expect they will sweeten as they keep. I'll save these in my basement in a paper bag along with my potatoes. I have planted a fall crop of these that I hope will grow in time before the frosts come. Even if they don't, I have plenty of beets!

The lighter colored beets at the right of the tray are Chiogga's. These are very sweet now and we are eating them as fast as we can. Sweet and pale reddish with very tender leaves.

beets (Beta vulgaris)
harvests from my vegetable gardens
at

8 comments:

  1. AnonymousAugust 26, 2008 12:29 AM

    I've never grown beets before. If I grew them in a pot, would it need to be pretty deep? Which variety would you recommend for a newbie?

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  2. AnonymousAugust 26, 2008 5:18 AM

    Looks like a great crop! I just planted my winter beets a few weeks - I hope I can be as successful.

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  3. kathyAugust 27, 2008 10:53 AM

    I've never tried beets in a container. But why not see what happens! Here's an information sheet on container gardening from UCDavis (always a great information source).

    I'd recommend Chiogga. They are very sweet beets and fairly small. The leaves are nice, so if roots don't develop, you can just use the leaves.

    My beets seem to grow very shallow, almost on top of the soil. I'd try a 9 inch deep pot. Make sure you give them ALOT of sun.

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  4. AnonymousAugust 27, 2008 11:17 PM

    Kathy--Thanks for the tips and link. I'll have to try them out!

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  5. AnonymousSeptember 05, 2008 2:18 AM

    Hey Kathy, just wanted to let you know that I planted some Detroit Dark Red beet seeds today. The seed packet says that Detroit Dark Red is an heirloom variety and that the leaves have more iron than a hamburger. Who knew!

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  6. kathySeptember 05, 2008 10:42 PM

    Great! I always try to eat a lot of leafy greens. I know they are healthy, and they taste good. I think they also have lots of Vit A, C and calcium.

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  7. AdrianaNovember 18, 2008 1:41 PM

    Some of my beets were puny. I think I spaced them too close.

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  8. kathyNovember 18, 2008 8:10 PM

    Beets can be spaced 2-3 inches apart - pretty close. It looked like my local CSA farm had them even closer - in clumps of 4 or 5 beets right next to each other. Its good for their leaves to overlap to keep the soil cool.

    I think the main thing that affected the size of my beet roots was sunlight. They were always puny in my home garden with 4-5 hours of sunlight per day. In full sun they are big.

    Hope you had good leaves even if the roots were small.

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