Beets: description, varieties, planting dates, outdoor care, salad recipe (30 Photos & Videos) + Reviews

Beet

Beets are a popular vegetable crop. Without it, it is difficult to imagine our daily diet and any holiday menu. This vegetable has become widespread due to its good yield, not too complicated agricultural technology and the presence of early ripening varieties.

Growing table beets, planting this plant in open ground, caring for it in the garden and the secrets of obtaining high yields will be discussed in our article.

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plant description

Table beets

The beetroot genus belongs to the Amaranth family. There are four varieties of this vegetable crop, which have different purposes:

Leaf beet, which is also called "chard", is common in southern Europe. This vegetable crop is grown for its edible stems and leaves. Fodder beet is an industrial crop, it is grown for animal feed. Sugar beets are planted for their root crops, which are the most important raw material for sugar production.

Beets grown at home

On their transverse section, one can notice the alternation of rings and vascular fibrous bundles, which are less colored and have a rougher consistency.

Root crops increase their volume due to the growth of these vascular fibrous rings. Therefore, the following pattern can be traced: the larger the root crop, the worse it is in quality. The standard weight of one root crop should not exceed 0.5 kg. The fleshy and juicy root crops of most varieties grow protruding above the soil surface.

In the second year of life, plants form strongly branching flowering shoots, similar to long leafy spikes. The flowers are greenish in color. The seeds are enclosed in a glomerulus, each of which contains from 2 to 6 seeds.

beet seeds

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The benefits of beets for the body

Before the beets were cultivated, people used wild varieties of this vegetable as food. In culture, they began to grow first leaf beets, and then root crops.

It happened in the Mediterranean presumably several thousand years ago. Even at that time, beetroot was valued not only as a vegetable, but also, first of all, as a medicinal plant.

Beetroot Kestrel F1

As a dietary product, both fresh root crops and those that have undergone heat treatment are used: boiled, fried, baked, as well as beetroot juice.

Root crops have good keeping quality, which contributes to the year-round use of this vegetable fresh. They contain a significant amount of vitamins, beneficial trace elements and antioxidants. In addition to root crops, young leaves are also eaten, which contain no less useful substances.

One of the valuable properties of this vegetable crop is that, unlike other edible plants, beets contain less acids. Root crops contain natural antiseptics that can suppress the development of infectious diseases and pathogenic microflora.

Fiber and other beneficial substances stimulate the activity of the gastrointestinal tract and liver.

The consumption rate of this vegetable crop is 5-6 kg per person per year. Fresh beets are available for consumption almost throughout the year. It is used, as a rule, after cooking.

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Table beet varieties

Among the huge variety of table beet varieties available, each owner of a garden plot can choose a suitable variety that will have the desired yield and high taste, and also answer:

Varieties that have appeared recently are characterized by unpretentiousness, good yield and high taste. In the pulp of such root crops, there are less and less rigid vascular fibrous rings, and they are stored much longer and better than their predecessors.

single fruit varieties

Bordeaux single seed

Beet seedlings contain, as a rule, several seeds. For this reason, young plants grow in "nests" and require repeated thinning.

Thus, thinning of seedlings is not required, and vegetable growers significantly reduce the amount of work needed to care for plants. Among the single-fruited varieties are “Delicacy”, “Single-growth”, “Aya”, “Valenta”, “Havskaya”, “Bordeaux one-seeded”, “Patrick”, “Monocle”.

Early ripe varieties

Variety Egyptian flat

Early ripening beets are grown for early consumption of root crops for food. The crop cannot be stored for a long time, and therefore they try to process beets of early ripening for culinary purposes faster. Early varieties - "Bravo", "Egyptian flat", "Libero", "Nochowski".

Varieties of medium ripening

Beet variety Detroit

Compared to early beets, middle varieties are more cold and drought tolerant. Root crops of medium varieties are no less juicy and tasty than early ones. These include Pronto, Detroit, Boheme, Opolskaya, Boyarynya, Masha.

"Cylinder" is another interesting medium variety. It is stored a little worse, but it has an elongated shape of root crops, unusual for beets, with an interesting taste and without rings. This variety gives large yields, and the roots in the garden stand 2/3 of the soil.

Late varieties

Beet variety Bolivar

They are characterized by a long period of growth and a long shelf life of the crop: root crops can be perfectly stored until the next harvest, without losing their commercial and taste qualities. Good late varieties - "Ataman", "Torpedo", "Red Ruby", "Bolivar".

An excellent late variety is Saladnaya beetroot. These root crops are ideal for long winter storage and remain juicy until spring. The variety has excellent taste and resistance to pests and diseases.

Varieties for winter sowing of seeds

Usually beet seeds are not sown before winter. This is due to the fact that plants do not withstand low temperatures well, as a result of which they can form arrows and bloom in the first year of growth. This undesirable quality of the beets is called "flowering". However, there are a number of varieties bred by breeders specifically for winter sowing.

Planting beets before winter

These varieties are not only cold-resistant, but also resistant to bolting. These include "Podzimnyaya A-474", "Cold-resistant 19", "Boltardi", "Furor", "Northern Ball". The disadvantage of winter sowing is that the crop is not stored for a long time, and it must be immediately eaten or processed.

In addition, under adverse weather conditions, the seeds can freeze. To prevent this from happening, apply mulching.

hybrid varieties

Beet Alto F1

Hybrid beet varieties are practically not affected by pests and diseases, they are resistant to stressful situations, since these qualities are laid down at the genetic level.

The only disadvantage of hybrids is that they cannot be propagated on their own, and seeds will have to be bought every year.

The best hybrid varieties of beets: Pablo F1, Rocket F1, Taunus F1, Voevoda F1, Red Cloud F1, Kestrel F1. Among the hybrids there are varieties with different maturation periods.

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Site selection and growing conditions

Landing and care

On personal plots, beets are grown as a separate crop or as a kind of "compacter" between cucumbers, potatoes and along the borders of the beds.

sprouted beets

Site illumination

For planting beets, you need to allocate an open sunny place. This vegetable crop should not be planted in the shade. If a free place for planting is left only under a tree, then beets can be planted in such a site, but always on the south side, which is well warmed by the sun.

Garden layout

Optimum temperature

Beets on the grill

The most favorable temperature for the growth of the root crop and obtaining a good harvest is in the range of 15-23 degrees. Beets can withstand a short-term drop in temperature to 2-3 degrees, but after that, the plants begin to slow down growth.

Under such conditions, flower arrows may appear on them even in the first year of life, and the root crops will become hard and unsuitable for eating.

soil moisture

Chernozem

Beetroot is a moisture-loving plant. Although this vegetable crop can tolerate short dry periods, good soil moisture, especially during the growing season of young plants, should be considered a major factor in increasing yields.

Suitable soil

beet harvest

Usually this vegetable crop is placed in the second year after lime is added to the soil. However, liming can also be carried out immediately before sowing the seeds.

Beets need loose soil, so before sowing the beds, you need to dig well to the depth of a spade bayonet. It is better to do this in the fall, while simultaneously cleaning up the remains of other plants and fertilizing the site.

It is difficult for any root crops, including beets, to develop and grow in size on dense clay soils. Such soil needs to be improved by changing its structure.

For this purpose, it is better suited:

You can fill the soil with humus or compostbut fresh manure it is better not to apply, since beets have the ability to accumulate nitrates in root crops. If fertilizer is applied, then well-rotted humus of plant origin or manure of at least three years ago.

The best beet predecessor plants

Vegetable crop rotation table

Beetroot grows better and grows root crops if it is placed on the site after certain plants. Cabbage is considered not a very good predecessor for beets.

The best predecessors for this vegetable crop are:

Choosing seeds

beet seeds

After you have decided on the beet variety, you need to select the seeds. You can grow them yourself, because beets are a biennial plant that bears fruit in the second year of life. However, most often this plant is grown as an annual for root crops, and seeds are easier to purchase ready-made.

Another argument in favor of purchasing seeds: If you are growing hybrid varieties of beets, then collecting your own seeds does not guarantee that you will get the same variety as the mother plant. And the yield of these plants will be significantly lower than when planting purchased hybrid seeds.

Here are some recommendations for choosing seeds: what should you pay attention to?

The tightly closed package must contain the following information:

The date of harvest must also be indicated on the bag of seeds. If only the expiration date is indicated on the package, it is better not to buy such seeds. Choose seeds from last year's collection - as a rule, they have the best germination.

Dates of spring sowing seeds

Sowing seeds

To accelerate the germination of seeds, especially if the sowing time has been missed, sowing is carried out with pre-soaked seeds.

Compared to other root crops, beets are much more demanding on heat. Its seeds germinate at a temperature of 8 degrees Celsius. When the temperature reaches 10-11 degrees, seedlings appear in 10-12 days, and at a temperature of 15-18 degrees, the seeds germinate even faster, after 5-6 days.

To determine the optimal time for sowing beet seeds, you can use a popular sign: you need to start sowing when small leaves the size of the smallest coin appear on the birch - this will be the signal to start sowing.

Soaking beet seeds before planting

Usually beet seeds are sown in mid-May. In order to accelerate the germination of seeds two or three days before sowing, they are soaked in warm water at a temperature of 40 degrees or in a solution of macro- or microelements.

Before sowing, the seeds must be dried to a loose state and should be sown immediately in moist soil. Shoots should appear in four to five days. Do not sow soaked seeds in cold, insufficiently warmed or dry soil.

In the northern regions, beets can also be grown using seedlings. For this, seeds are sown in boxes or greenhouses in March. The resulting seedlings are planted on the beds after five or six true leaves appear on the plants.

beet tops

In the middle lane, growing beets through seedlings is also possible: this allows you to get very early harvests. However, this method is not necessary and is rarely used.

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Caring for beets in the open field

Beets in the open field

Growing beets has its own nuances that will not be superfluous to remember:

These and other features of growing beets, as well as the proper care of this vegetable crop, will be discussed further.

Thinning seedlings - a necessary agricultural technique

sprouted beets

Beet seeds are glomeruli that form 4-5 sprouts, and therefore this vegetable crop sprouts not as separate plants, but as a kind of "nests".

And although in recent years single-fruited varieties of beetroot, the infructescence of which contain single seeds, have begun to appear on sale, multi-seeded varieties still remain more common.

In order for the root crops to turn out large, and for young plants not to interfere with each other's development, it is important to carry out timely thinning of seedlings:

In this case, it is necessary to “pinch” the main root. Then it will not grow in depth, but will immediately begin to increase mass.

Planting should be done with a distance between rows of about 20 cm.Between plants in a row, you need to make a distance of 10-15 cm. The survival rate of such beet seedlings is quite high.

Watering the beets

Without moisture, plants linger in their development for a long time, and the root crop does not increase mass. This is especially true for the southern regions, where watering should be plentiful. Irrigation significantly accelerates the formation of root crops, contributes to earlier production and increases the yield.

Watering the beets

Young plants are watered at the rate of ten liters of water per 1 sq. m. When root crops begin to grow, provided that the weather is dry and hot, watering should be doubled.

The lack of water negatively affects the development of plants and the formation of root crops.. However, an excess of moisture is also undesirable: this can cause increased leaf growth to the detriment of the formation of juicy root crops, and plants become resistant to diseases.

Weeding, loosening the soil and mulching row spacing

After watering, the soil between the rows is gently loosened so that it does not compact. To do this, take a small hoe and try not to touch the root crops. Moreover, the first time loosening is carried out in the spring, even before the emergence of seedlings. After the first pair of true leaves appears, you need to loosen the aisles and weed out weeds.

beet sprouts

If it is not possible to irrigate in a timely manner, the aisles should be mulched with some material, such as straw or grass. Moisture will be better preserved under the mulch, and the soil will not overheat, which is very important for the development of beets.

Fertilizers and fertilizing beets

As already noted, it is not recommended to grow beets immediately after making fresh manure or compost. It is best to grow beets in such areas two to three years after fertilization. On fertile soils, fertilizers may not be applied at all.

Beet cut

On poor soils not seasoned with organic or mineral fertilizers, beets will lack nutrition. In this case, top dressing will be required. It is preferable to use herbal infusion as a fertilizer for beets.

You only need to feed the beets if you think they are not growing well enough. If fertilizers were applied to the site in previous years and the root crops develop normally, then there is no need to fertilize the beets.

It is often advised to feed beets with sea salt or even ordinary rock salt diluted in a bucket of water.. Since the wild beet originated from areas of the Mediterranean located close to the sea, such top dressings are considered very useful for this crop.

The norm of such dressings in the literature is different, and often the optimal amount can be determined empirically. You can start with this ratio: an incomplete tablespoon of salt for one bucket of water with a volume of 10 liters.

The appearance of yellow round spots on beet leaves indicates that the soil is too acidic and the plants lack potassium.. In this case, it is necessary to water the plants with milk of lime with the addition of potassium chloride.

Checking beet leaves

To compensate for the lack of boron, you can apply a specialized fertilizer, which is diluted in accordance with the manufacturer's instructions. It can be applied in two ways, producing root or foliar top dressing.

Cleaning old leaves

beet tops

If the leaves are cut off before they are completely dry, this can cause beets to bloom in the first year of life.

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Beet diseases

Beet cercosporosis

Both table and chard beets are affected by fungi that cause brown spots to form on old leaves. This disease can be observed especially often at high humidity or in cases where the crops are too thickened.

This disease can cause serious damage to plants, so infected leaves must be removed and destroyed.

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Harvesting and storage of root crops

Early beets can be harvested as early as 70-80 days after germination, when the root crops have reached a size of 3-4 cm. The final harvesting of the remaining root crops of medium and late varieties must be completed before the onset of frost, i.e. towards the end of September.

Harvested beetroot crop

The earth from the root crops is carefully shaken off, and the roots are left, they do not need to be cut. Beets are stored in the basement and cellar at a temperature of 1 to 3 degrees Celsius in boxes with sand - these are the ideal storage conditions for this vegetable crop.

In regions with mild winters, it is not necessary to store all root crops at once. Some of them can be left for some time in the ground, sheltered from frost with straw or other improvised materials.

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Beets: description, varieties, planting dates, outdoor care, salad recipe (30 Photos & Videos) + Reviews