Maine Garden Ideas
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Beets

Picture
Growing beets in the home garden provides you with fresh beet greens for steaming or adding to green salads in late spring. If allowed to mature, tender red beets form under the ground and are ready to boil and eat by mid summer or make into delicious pickled beets in the fall. These easy-to-grow vegetables need little care making them ideal for the beginner's garden. 

How to Grow Beets

Picture

Location: Prepare the soil in a sunny location that receives 6 to 8 hours of direct sunlight a day. Add a 2- to 4-inch layer of well-rotted manure or compost and work it into the soil to improve aeration and promote drainage. Apply 5-10-10 or 10-10-10 fertilizer following the recommended application rate on the container. Work it into the top 6 inches of soil. 

Planting: Sow beet seeds to a depth of ¼ inch, spaced 2 to 4 inches apart in rows - if you intend to allow them to mature. For beet greens, create a raised row in the garden approximately eight inches wide. Broadcast the seeds over the area to create a wide row of beets. Cover the seeds with soil and firm down lightly to secure the seeds.

Watering: Water newly planted seeds thoroughly and keep the soil moist until seedlings emerge in 7 to 10 days. Germination time depends on the weather and may take up to two weeks in cold weather. Once established, water beets deeply once or twice a week to keep the soil from drying out.

Fertilizer: Apply water-soluble fertilizer designed for garden vegetables once or twice a month. Beets grown in raised beds or containers require supplemental feeding as the nutrients often leach from the soil with repeated watering.

Weeding: Keep weeds under control by hand picking or cutting them at the base with a sharp hoe. For beets grown in a long row, mulching with organic mulch is an option for weed control.

Harvesting: Harvest beet greens when the leaves are 4 to 6 inches high. As the beets mature the leaves and stems become tough and stringy losing their characteristic sweet flavor. Many prefer to pull every other beet plant for greens while allowing others to grow to maturity. Harvesting just the outer leaves is also an option. Harvest mature beet roots in late summer or fall.


Copyright © 2014 Nannette Richford



  • Home
  • Garden Thyme Blog
  • Themes
    • Butterfly Gardens
    • Moon Gardens
    • Sensory Gardens
    • All About Fairies
  • Flowers
    • Annual Flowers >
      • Alyssum
      • Cosmos
      • Geraniums
      • Marigolds
      • Morning Glories
      • Nasturtiums
      • Petunias >
        • Reviving Petunias
      • Snapdragons
      • Sunflowers
      • Sweet Peas
      • Zinnias
    • Perennial Flowers >
      • Golden Glow (Rudbeckia laciniata ‘Hortensia’)
      • Lupines
      • Purple Coneflower (Echinacea Purpurea)
    • Maine Wildflowers
  • Veggies
    • Warm Season Vegetables >
      • Beans >
        • Growing Beans
        • Growing Pole Beans
        • How to Make a Teepee Trellis
      • About Corn >
        • Growing Corn
        • What is Baby Corn, anyway?
        • Can you grow corn in containers?
      • Cucumbers >
        • Grow a cucumber in a bottle
        • Growing Pickling Cucumbers
        • Growing cucamelons (Mexican Gherkin)
        • Why do cucumbers blossom but fail to set fruit?
        • Trellising Cucumbers
        • Making Cucumber Relish
        • Powdery Mildew on Cucumbers
      • Melons
      • Peppers >
        • Growing Peppers
      • Squash >
        • Growing Zucchini
        • Spaghetti Squash
      • Tomatoes >
        • How to Harden Off Tomato Plants
        • How (and when) to Prune Tomatoes
        • Magnesium Sulfate (Epsom Salt) for Tomatoes
        • Blossom End Rot in Tomatoes
        • Growing Cherry Tomatoes in Hanging Baskets
        • 4 Best Tomatoes for Short Seasons - Early Tomatoes
        • 5 Early Maturing Tomatoes for Short Season Gardening
        • How to Ripen Green Tomatoes
        • How to Make Sun-Dried Tomatoes at Home
        • Grow Your Own Amazing Pomato Plant - Tomatoes on the Top and Potatoes on the Bottom
    • Cool Season Vegetables >
      • Cole Crops
      • Greens >
        • How to Grow Spinach
        • How to Grow Malabar Spinach
        • How to Grow Swiss Chard
        • Harvesting and Cooking Beet Greens
        • How to Grow Microgreens
      • Onions & Garlic >
        • How to Grow Garlic
        • How to Grow Onions
      • Peas >
        • Growing Garden (shelling) Peas
        • Growing Sugar Snap Peas
      • Potatoes >
        • How to Grow Potatoes in Containers
        • How to Grow Potatoes in Hay Bales
      • Root Crops >
        • Growing Beets
        • How to Grow Carrots
  • Herbs
    • Growing Basil
    • Growing Chives
    • Growing Lavender
    • Herbal Tea Garden
    • How to Grow a Culinary Herb Garden
    • How to Grow Herbs in Sponges
    • Colonial Herb Garden - Classroom Project
    • Herbed Butter
    • Making Herbed Oils
  • Gardening Basics
    • Seed Starting Basics
    • Grafting Basics
    • Soil >
      • Starting a New Garden
      • How to Prepare Soil
      • How to Test Soil Drainage
      • What Type of Soil Do You Have
      • Soil Mix Recipe for Containers
      • How to Make Compost Tea
      • How to Use Mulch
      • Control Blister Beetles
  • Birds
    • Hummingbirds >
      • DIY Hummingbird Feeders from Recycled Bottles
      • Annuals for Hummingbird Gardens
      • Perennials for Hummingbird Gardens
    • About Birdseed
    • Choosing a Birdfeeder
  • Fiddleheads and Fairies
  • About Us
  • Contact Us
  • How to Marinate Roasted Vegetables