How to Grow Beets All Year
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- Опубліковано 18 чер 2022
- Growing beets can be a bit of a challenge and in todays video I try and give a rundown of how we grow thousands of bunches of beets per year on a market garden scale.
This video covers: how to grow beets, how to grow beets for storage, how to grow beets in the summer, how to grow better beet greens, should you spray beets with salt water, marketing beets, and more.
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I usually try to mention that I'm in KY, zone 6b but I forgot. So, uh, yeah, KY zone 6b!
KY here as well, I grow some in raised beds because no matter how I try to keep the deer out in the field they always find a way to mow em down
How does periodically harvesting the greens affect the size and growth of the beetroot?
@@natureboy6410 photosynthesis, when they can't eat the sun...they grow less
@@chuckwagon7171 I was thinking harvesting it like you would chard or mustard, only harvesting the outside leaves inward, leaving the bulk of the young leaves in the center alone.
@@natureboy6410 you'll end up getting harvest beets, it will just be slower
I like to add a little cheap cinnamon to my seed trays I have even gotten away with recycling soil and have no damp off problems whatso ever because the cinnamon kills all fungus. It also is a great rooting compound
Thank you . Will try it out as we have a we climate
@kimberly THANKS. I forgot about cinnamon..i had beautiful cucumbers and pumpkin growing until yesterday they were protected from the freeze then started curling 😕 I recycle my pot soil also
Keeps the fungas gnats away too
I'll have to try that. Thanks!
Well, the trouble with using an anti-fungal compound is that you'll prevent the plant from forming a relationship with the beneficial fungi in the soil, which is vital for its health and ability to find water and nutrients in the soil. I prefer using a lot of sand in my potting mix: 6 parts sand, 6 parts dampened coir, 3 parts worm casts. When I have it I add a light sprinkling of biochar and sometimes a sprinkling of seaweed. The seaweed would be particularly good in the case of beets.
I am a veges farmer in Botswana Africa and are sowing beets direct throughout the year. Detroit Dark Red or Crimson Clobe gives good results. Close them up with 30% shade net sheets which I pull over a bended 20mm black plastic pipe to form a bow. Pin them down with a "U" bended piece of wire at each bow about 5m spaced. Sow 7 rows of beet seeds on a 1 meter raised bed.
Germination takes about 2 weeks but needs lots of watering at the start, 25mm the first day and 2nd day again. We have very hot summer days of 40 degree celcius but with enough water they manage. Winter germination 2 weeks, but then I cut the shade nets out, and just watering.
Beets handle our cold nights very well, which can go minus 1 to 2 degrees celcius.
I have build a rolling hole press to "hole" the beds, pull it with a tractor which runs across the beds. before I put 2 seeds per hole by hand. A bit labour intensive to plant, and then I thin out 3 weeks after sowing, to be left with a seedling per hole.
I do this on commercial scale and harvest 10kg per running meter which gives me 60 - 65 beets.
People more intersted in more info send me a note I willing to share my results as long as you are making a harvest!
You no doubt have the best soil ❤
Interesting. Am in limpopo, south africa. Hobby farmer with 3 hectares. I will try your approach. We grow far too much for our own consumption. My wife wants to start selling, so we're trying to work out where to start. We do everything in a regenerative way. Our biggest challenge is snails, so we also use shade net on hoops to try and keep them out!
🇿🇦🇿🇦👩🌾
You mentioned people tend to buy the red round beets over the other varieties. Have you ever considered selling a "sampler" bunch to introduce them to the different kinds of beets?
Not sure if it’s the best idea, but while we grow a lot of beats, we take a couple leaves from each as the season goes for beat-top salads. It’s a great replacement for lettuce which does not grow well in warm weather. Hope this helps someone! 😀
Beet greens are superior to other greens for nutrients
Definitely the best idea! I love love love braised beet tops, I don’t really care for the beet itself lol
Thank
When can you harvest the leaves from?
@@arshadhussain5145 We typically wait until the beets are big enough to support taking leaves from, so the leaves will regrow. Taking leaves when the beet is too small is not good for the root. So the leaves will be about the size of a Romaine Leaf size(ish) when it’s ok to take a leaf here-and-there. Some will be smaller, some will be bigger.
I freeze beets so freezing breaks cell walls making nutrients available. Then I thaw them out and dice them for a salad. I use olive oil and Apple Cider Vinegar for my dressing.
Thanks! This video beets all others I have seen, so far.
solid
😂👍
Thanks, Jessie! I personally love your puns. Growing beets first time, middle GA.
Fun fact about beets: their color does not stain fabric. This is because its color molecules are too large to stick to fabric. Chemists and dyers have been trying for centuries because their color is so beautiful, but at this point, I don't think it's going to happen.
Best beet recipe: Peel, dice, simmer in orange juice with a dash of nutmeg until soft. Eat. Yum.
Fascinating! Thanks for sharing
I love diced beet in horseradish sauce and vinegar 😛
Fine slice orange peel too
Love this upbeet video!
Always trying to up my game on beets and looking for the secret that will work for me.
lol!
I love the editing, side-bar commentary, and dad humor. Big fan of the whole vibe of the channel. 👍🏼👍🏼👍🏼 Some very excellent content.
But alas, he's in Kentucky.
Go across the river to Indiana and, voilà, Hoosier Daddy.
1
Same here! 😂❤
I love beets as well, pretty underrated by most except for old people, Eastern Europeans, foodies, health freaks, and market gardeners…🤣 My favourites are golden as a home grower, but I find them more finicky too, worse germination rates, slower growing, but so purdy and tasty. Starting 2020, I did a cut and come again on the greens and the new green growth replaces the old harvested in under 2 weeks. I get at least 5-7 leaf harvests before I harvest the whole beet with still full leaves and root, that looks like a normal fully intact beet plant.
Intersting!
I love beets and the greens! 45 miles north of Atlanta GA - do you selectively cut or just slice all the greens off in one shot?
@@advancednutritioninc908 I’m glad you asked as I was concerned I didn’t clarify…. Myself I selectively harvest the biggest “swiss chard” outer leaves, and let the small inner ones re-grow quickly, exactly like one would harvest their close relative Chard…. But I’ve heard of market gardeners doing a full cut of everything for salad mix, many many times, although I’m guessing the re-grow is a bit longer, although with good fertility should be fine…
@@TheNewMediaoftheDawn Thank you for the details!! Have an Awesome Week!!
I’m one of the old people. However I’ve recently been introduced to roasting beets, yum. I also pickle them in traditional way,and make beet relish which is great in a meat sandwich. My beet preference is the old fashioned red globe type.
Growing beets for the first time and thoroughly enjoying them in our urban raised bed garden. For dinner last night we had beet greens sautéed with bacon and riced cauliflower. Then placed seasoned tilapia fillets on top, baked in the oven. Ummm Ummm good! I also made beet stalk refrigerator pickles! I love beets ♥️. Update on the beet stalk pickles….. too stringy.
Sooo, what time is dinner ? 😊
Replace tilapia with wild caught salmon. Much healthier
Careful. Cooked beets are high in sugar, but Raw strengthens blood.
Mmmm.... now I'm hungry!
Maybe I can sneak the beets in and the people here that claim not to like them won't notice...😂
Sounds incredible, wish more of my patients would go to this medicine during their meals instead of the crazy expensive petroleum based pills created by Rockefeller's modern medicine
Charles Dowding multi sows beets in a clusters of 4 or 5. Then he plants them out in the cluster, and will harvest one beet at a time by twisting them out.
‘Dry climate crop’ 😮 sorry I just have to chuckle at how things can vary. I’m in Juneau, Alaska and we are in the Tongas National Rain Forest. Our summers are very wet, but beets are one of our best crops. The temps are moderate and cool and seem to like the moisture. We usually grow the Detroits and have excellent, and delicious beets that will store in the fridge for several months. I enjoyed your video. Thanks for sharing!
I like your comments about not wasting anything. I separate the beet, leaves and stems and use them in different ways but I like to cut the stems in small uniform pieces and pickle them. Even when I thin my beets I save them for micro greens on my salad.
I love your easy-going, friendly, "I'm not a perfect know-it-all" delivery. Lots of great information. Thank you!
New to gardening but we love beets. I have watched your video a couple of times.
I eat the beet greens in salads. Then we juice the beets with apples and ginger. Taste like a liquid sweet tart. 😍
If your body needs healing, the juice will knock you out. I have slept for 8-12 hours after the juice. 1 beet, 4-5 apples (we use Granny Smith) and fresh ginger, about the size of your thumb or larger per person. I like larger amount of ginger. Happy healing ❤️🩹
“One day I’ll find that vegetable that likes poor draining soil, because I’ve got some work for it” 😂😂 give Malabar spinach a try. It needs consistent moisture and doesn’t mind wet feet. Really popular in Asia and India, so depending on the diversity in your are, it may take some time to gain traction.
I soak my beet seeds in a little fish emulsion water before planting. Have had great success with sprouting within a week.
Yep..been growing Detroit beets for over 20yrs...and they are the best...and you can easily grow year round as long as last seeds are planted 4_6 weeks before frost...🤔☺🇭🇲
NC zone 7b, red clay but we practice no till,
Broadfork each bed and use a nice layer of compost and amendments. I’ve tried paper pot and direct seeding. Paper pot resulted in weird shapes and I personally don’t like the results in our context for any crop. I prefer jang with I believe LJ12 and sometimes have to adjust the brush because as you mentioned the seeds are all different. We seed on 30 inch beds, 3 rows.
Boro, golden, and chioggia. Golden sell best at market and for me Chioggia tastes the best. I’ve found washing with modified electric pressure washer with the green spray nozzle gets them super clean and is really fast. I still haven’t found the right velocity for the peddle sprayer set up yet. But it works great for washing hands. Spend the time pulling the extra soil and bad leaves in the field. It’s makes cleaning so much easier.
Great additions, thanks!
What sprockets are you using for KJ12? Thanks.
Love the comedy injected into your educational videos! Your humor is hard to 'beet'! LOL
We have had great success doing "multi-sown" transplants, inspired by Charles Dowding. We grow 3-5 beets per clump, they all size up, perhaps 15% smaller than single beets, but overall 3 times the yield per bed. From one 100 ft bed we harvested 50 big bunches last week, will harvest 40 bunches this week, and we'll prob have more leftover
Have you had much success in pulling the largest ones in any one clump and leaving the others to size up? I know this is what Charles suggests you can do, but whenever I try this, the remaining beets don't seem to increase in size
@@nathanwooldridge85 yep, we sometimes twist out the large ones and the remaining ones will size up. sometimes we supplement some fertility through a foliar
Good to know. I feel as though I do twist them, but I haven't seen Charles' videos on beets. I trust his expertise. I'll have to see if he does something different than I do. Or maybe it's a varietal thing. My experience is that the other beets simply sit there pretty much static, perhaps the foliar helps.
I’ve been experimenting with cutting the beetroot out of the clump, with a small knife to get as close in and far down as possible. It’s only my first season trying it, but so far I think it’s been better than twisting the whole root out in terms of letting the other beets in the clump size up. An unanticipated benefit is that the beets are easier to wash as there’s less ‘soil cling’. And, of course, it’s always beneficial for the soil microbes to leave roots in the ground.
If anyone else is trying this approach, I’d love to hear how it’s working for you.
@@notillgrowers you need loose soil for it to work. Charles‘s beds are static and weed free.
I grow in Zone 6b/7a, northern Shenandoah Valley, VA.
I grow mostly the Goldens and do pretty well with them. This year we converted our large garden #1 to raised beds. Our fill was a mushroom compost mix. I direct seeded in a bed that was to be planted w/ tomatoes. Took WEEEEEKs for germination (much longer than normal, but our weather was not 'normal'). Without a doubt, growing beets in the raised bed makes for much easier seeding and harvesting, and the compost mix is great for beets (heck, for ALL of our garden so far). I've been harvesting the greens for about 3 weeks now; yesterday, pulled some beets for a meal...delicious! No insect damage to leaves at all, beautiful roots. Direct sowing was on April 14, so a little over 60 days to harvest beets.
I will be direct sowing again today (Detroit Reds), and since this is a very cool June, I'm gambling that we'll get 'summer beets' this year.
After listening to your raves about tunnel-growing, I'll try a small patch in my greenhouse for Fall.
I also save seeds, so some of my earlier beets will be left in the ground to bolt.
We eat raw and cooked beets (mostly in stir fries), raw and cooked leaves. Every part of the beet is delicious.
New subscriber...I get a kick out of your calculations...math can be a gardener's friend. :-)
Totally off topic, but we just spent the weekend in Luray. The whole area is beautiful!❤
Please do make all the beat puns 🙌 I love puns and my last name is Bean....and I'm a farmer. The puns there are endless. 🤣
"I will say borscht is a really fun word to say" 😆
Love the content! I wish the number of small or even mini farms grew more, especially in eastern europe. People are so... big ag focused. phew!
We intercrop beets with garlic to keep away leaf miner.
Thank you! We grow a fair amount of beets in MN we plant them in a triangle point to point three inches seed at each point the triangles are 6 inches apart linear and 10” apart lateral. 3 row grouping. When the beets grow in the triangle they push outward. It works well. Great content thank you again.
Love that you get to the relevant stuff while having fun and being witty
amazing, thank you!
Fun fact: I have been successfully growing beets in my backyard garden. I grow extra every year to share with the goldfinch that perch on them and eat the greens. I think they are cute and I like to watch them so I don’t mind sharing and growing extra. It would be easy to think the big holes in the leaves was from an insect but they are actually from birds. I may cover some this year and leave some for them exposed. 😊
Leaf miners are the major pest for me in Boise, ID. The best way to avoid damage is using floating row cover cloth. If the damage is minor it will not affect the beet root, but with a heavy infestation will eventually lessen the quality of your beet root. Also attacks chard and spinach leaves. Great vids. Thanks for sharing all this info.
Look for a natural predator to leaf miners, and introduce them into your garden;
@@nosajsamaniego4512 that's a stupid advice. Don't listen to it. Cover beets with row cover or netting and the problem is solved
Awesome video! Leaf miners are definitely an issue here in southern Ontario. I am just a small-time gardener doing it for sustenance so I take a few minutes a day to check leaves and rub off eggs with my finger.
Golden beets are my 😋 yum.
You just cant beat the information you provide in these videos! Thanks.
I started using Frost Resistant Row Covers last year and had some beets survive the Winter. I ate the rest, but for the first time have one that is going to produce seeds.
Thank you for sharing your knowledge and growing info.
This is great info. I got a few chuckles and agree that Blood Turnip is a great name. I didn't think beets would do well in the heat, so I never tried to grow them past spring. Thank you! I use shredded paper as a mulch for carrots. It retains the moisture and keeps the weeds out, but it's light enough that the seedlings can bust through. I'm sure that would work for beets also (usually start them in trays to get a jump on spring). TN USDA zone 7a, but it'really a 6a.
I grow beets year round in zone 9b they do fine in the heat. Our hottest week was 110-114 this summer and the beets just slowed down. I plant beet more beets every time I pull them to eat. So it is s succession. We love the greens as salad or even sautéed like spinach or kale.
You are one of our top 3 favorite growing channels! We would love to see you experiment with electro-culture! My students and I were very successful experimenting with growing living soil, and now I am introducing passive electro-culture to them in our sustainable living STEM style course. If you ever do a video on electro culture, give a shout out to Mr. Pennella's Sustainable Living STEM class at Piedmont Christian School in Virginia. You are a great inspiration!!
Thank you. 😊 I live in South Island N.Z. Heading into winter and i started my beet seedings late. You really helped me decide to keep these guys in my glasshouse. Might be a wet winter and dont want them to drown.
Your Beets are gorgeous!!
Zone 3 here. 🇨🇦
Ha ha ha I like your humor in between!!! ❤
Definitely agree that golden beets do not grow as strongly as red beets. Here in UK (zone 9) Boltardy is our go to red beet.
When you water your trays, either by soaking or misting, add 10% peroxide by volume. The extra oxygen is beneficial for the roots, but will destroy any pathogenic fungi. It literally melts molds
And kills fungus gnats. I “wash” all my pepper and tomato plants this way and the roots are amazing.
Roasted beet tacos with goat milk cheese are the best! I've grown most of them from bull's blood to gourmet blend and an albino beetroot. All delicious if I say so. I'm inTexas zone 9a or 9b one of those. Happy gardening farmer Jesse
Celery. You are welcome. Great videos!
Nasturtiums grow well in moist soil, if you can count that as a crop. They taste great in salads (flowers and leaves) and you can pickle the flower buds like capers.
Nasturtiums are one of my favs!! Their seeds are like peppercorns & can be put into a pepper grinder at end of their blooming season! (let them dry or oven dry 1st ) Awesome plant!!! :)
@@jenna-here8737 that's great tip! And let's not forget their beautiful flowers :) very bee- and farmer-friendly!
I've heard they're good for deterring cucumber beetles and squash bugs too, but I haven't tested that yet. Last year our zucchini got swamped with cucumber beetles, so I'm excited to try it.
Taro too can grow in soggy soil.
Well, i just watched 4 of your videos and i'm beat...So much good info. I grow my beets for the deer, at least that's the way it's worked out..After 20 years w/o a fence, i think i want one now, the deer have plenty to eat around here.
Good job I like this garden
Good video....I've always loved beets! My wife pickled some that were give to us last year. Now, I'm about set to plant my first ever beet crop on April 1, 2023. And, as a result of this video, I'm gonna direct seed about half and seed/Transplant the other half. Just a bit of a test for our hobby farm.
Thank you, I was trying to figure out why only 50% of my seeds germinated. Will try covering them.
Just found your UA-cam channel, love you up beat and humorous videos, so informative and keeps my attention ❤️
This is my first time seeing one of your videos and I love it! I've hit the thumbs up and subscribed to your channel. I'm growing beats for the first time in my backyard garden and found your video just by searching for growing beats! Thank you for all the great advice! I look forward to watching more of your videos!
New York is known for quality onions. Fields were going barren and compacked due to too much water. They planted sorghum, some grazing others mowing it off for one season. Next year onions were planted and harvests were up to old yields.
Thank you and bless you for this. Love the dry humour, relevant detail and whole attitude.
A ton of great information here! I'm going to be planting beets for the first time this fall and I was looking for excellent info on how to best plant and care for them. Thank you! LOVE your channel! 👍
We have a bunch of (purple top)beets(broadcasted before the field was disced for the planter to come through with the sorghum) interplanted with our sorghum-sudan field. We are working on fixing the soil in that particular plot and so far, those 2 crops, along with a few beans and some corn, it's doing well for the first year. In the home garden I grew some hakurei turnips. Those i hand seeded. Those are very good and didnt last long, even with the kids. Central Arkansas here. Thank you for another informational and humorous video.
Jessie you are a star! Thank you so much chief! 🌱💚🙏✨🔥
We are in the last stage of crossing Touchstone gold with a vigorous red beetroot from Kazakhstan to breed more vigour into it. The aim to get a vigorous and tasty yellow beetroot. Let us know if you want some seed when it's finished!
where are u from
So informative. Thanks for all the great detail. I love beet greens and prefer them to spinach as a cooked green. Also I have been growing bulls blood beets the past 2 seasons to add the leaves to salads, which makes a nice contrast with the distinctive purplish leaves. I think I will try to grow beets under my tomatoes this season per your suggestion. Thank you!
I like the beet greens real well also !!!
You made me smile this morning, so thank you! Great beet advice.
Nicely descriptive. Thank you.
Awesome video! I love beets!
Every beet I grow either never gets a bulb.. or is so small.. nice greens tho.. and they are my fav cooking green.
Thank you for your info!
I have the same issue
Love the humor!.... very informative video
I love beets… i grow them every year but tend to often not get a large beet - I probably sow too close and dont thin (hate the thought of the tossing of a good plant) This year though was very wet with overflowing rainwater tanks that flood the vegetable garden. I came upon them (transplanted as single seedlings) and they are HUGE cylindrical Ferona beets.
So glad you popped up in my feed. Definitely subscribing. Everything I was looking for to fine tune my beginner beet growing experience. Seems like they would grow okay on containers too.
And your beets look amazing too!
Love your humor! Keep it up brother!
Awesome Garden Info
Awesome data. Great teacher
You are thorough! That's not necessarily a bad thing. I prefer more rather than less information. I don't know if I want to grow beets now. But I do like you and your humor, a lot!!! Thanks 😃
Super video. Informative. Great sense of humor. Thank you.
Excellent very helpful and comprehensive. Thanks
Absolutely love your channel! (I'll preface this comment with 'while I have plenty of disasters', so it doesn't seem like I'm bragging !) we have no problems with multi-sowing beets and follow Charles Dowding's method of twisting out the largest in the cluster, rather than pulling so most of the roots stay in the soil, leaving the rest to swell before repeating the process. Works for us in the UK - might it be a climate thing?
I have had great great luck with multi sowing beets. But you do have to take care when you’re harvesting, which might not work as well for a busy farmer.
Great advice, thanks for the chuckles!👊🤠👍
My wife and I got a box full of beet greens. Clean, remove stems, cook and eat em! YUM! Start sauteeing the stems and as they get tender, add the leaves cut as you like, enjoy!
When I was a kid in the 60s, I remember my Grandma and parents growing a garden in our hard dry clay dirt in SW Okla. they always grew some beets and some turnips. I love hot buttered beets, and I now use stevia to sweeten the pickling vinegar for beet pickled eggs. I remember Grandma’s beet pickles! I’m going to throw some seed out and see how they do this year! I’m in zone 7 now.
Thank you for an awesome video 🎊
Lacto-fermented beetroot with ginger is awesome 😀
Leaf miners ravaged my beets. Then I tried growing under netting and it was revelatory. Definitely a big issue for both beets and spinach in my old garden, no matter how often I checked leaves for eggs. Only growing under cover allowed me a harvest. I'm looking forward to getting to know my new garden.
Where are you located?
I grow in the Inland Northwest as a home gardener. I think this may be the last year I ever grow beet if covering them doesn't work. Every year they get ravaged by leaf miners and die before they even kinda size up. Crushing eggs is BS imo; I could crush them in morning and have hundreds more laid by evening. Really hope covering them helps
@@robynwalters6083 I'm in St Helens Oregon (Northwest Oregon) leaf miners destroy my beets every year too. I'm with you, netting when I sow and crossing my fingers.
I tried Swiss Chard in Snoqualmie with same disgusting leaf miner problems. Am now in Texas and no leaf miners, but aphids just smother the Pak Choi and Tatsoi mustard. Am now keeping them around just to keep aphids off everything else as they are such magnets. I had aphids even before things were hardened off for planting so not sure a net would keep the aphids away.
I get leaf miners here in UK. At the first sign I remove affected leaves, then I spray with neem oil ( the one with chemical beginning with a in it!). I repeat spray a week later. I get good enough, but not perfect control doing this.
Thanks for the "beet-down", great advice as always!
Going to check this out later. I planted beets last summer. And most of them came out so tiny. In the past, beets were always the easiest thing to grow.
I had to wait until my leaves over 1 foot to get decent sized beets.
JADAM Sulfur works very well for treating leaf spot. 1 tsp added to a gallon of water with 4 oz of wetting agent (JADAM wetting agent or dr bronner’s) applied as a foliar spray
Respect from Africa 🇿🇦
Thank you Jesse.
Just found your site. Great info!
I'm plantin beets and Chard about 8in apart, 12in row spacing. I give em a lot of room to fill out to their full potential. They seem to fill this space out no prob. Customers are impressed with the leaf size and taste. I just need them to tell their friends. I be growin way more Beets this season. !Toot Toot I'm a Moose!
really excellent instructional!
Great video
Thanks my friend God bless you keep going on. 2023 13 11
No wonder I had so many failures with beets! This should help me a whole lot!
I like your channel, we grow beets here in Maine zone 5 and6, also in joy the beet green.
I love your sense of humor! 😁
Great guide. Thanks for the metric captions (:
Informative ❤
Wow, this guy knows his stuff!
Outstanding! Cheers from Ottawa, Canada 🍁
Like your delivery. Harvesting just one beet from a cluster, watch Charles Dowsing use of only compost, and harvesting beets. Good stuff!
I like Beet greens to eat cooked , I also cook both the tops and the bottoms and freeze them for winter .