DIY Network

Selecting and Growing Beets An introduction to types of beets and growing basics. From "Fresh from the Garden" episode DFFG-302

Figure A

Joe Lamp'l returns to the garden after the potatoes and beets are up and growing. He demonstrates how to hill potatoes by piling extra soil along their stems as they grow and how to water and fertilize beets. For impatient gardeners, Joe shows how to get an early harvest of beet greens and how to harvest tender new potatoes. Once both crops have fully matured, he harvests and prepares them for storage (figure A).

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Beets are a cool-weather crop, grown mainly for their underground roots, but the leafy green tops are edible too. There are many beet varieties to choose from:

• Most beets are rounded and red, like Detroit Dark Reds (figure B).

• Cylindra is a variety that produces long, cylindrical red beets (figure C).

  Figure B

  Figure C

  
  

• Chioggia is a beet that, when sliced, has the appearance of a bull's-eye target, with concentric circles of red and white (figure D).

• There are also white- and yellow-fleshed beets. For a white beet, you can't find a better one than Blankoma (figure E). It produces small, delicious-tasting beets. Golden produces a very sweet beet with gold flesh.

Figure D

Figure E

Beets have long roots that reach deep into the soil, so prepare your bed well. Broadcast bonemeal fertilizer in the bed (figure F) and work in it to a depth of 12" (figure G). Bonemeal is high in phosphorous, a nutrient that helps the beets develop strong roots.

Figure F

Figure G

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