It’s time to start growing beets for your Fall garden. That’s coming up on This Land of Ours.
Beets are easy to grow and help to feed the soil. If you have animals, you can grow beets to feed your animals, as well.
As part of the spinach family, you can put beets anywhere you might place similar leafy greens. They do especially well in cool weather, and they are light feeders. Beets are pretty resilient in drought, and they prefer to follow soil that has been drained a bit of nitrogen. Let them chase squash or melons that will take a lot out of the soil.
Plant them now and let them grow until the first frost. Give up to three months from the time you plant them to give time for great beetroots to grow. Beet greens can be harvested and used as soon as leaves begin to grow well.
Pull the beets out by hand a day or so after watering them to make sure the soil is loose, and be sure not to cut the skin if you harvest by digging.
Beets that you plan to store should be dried, without washing the soil off, before placing them into cold storage.
You can prepare beets in a variety of ways, from steaming to roasting to adding to salads.
Listen to Cathy Isom’s This Land of Ours program here.