Beets – How to Grow & Use Throughout a Long Growing Season!

Q.  The fertilizing amounts that they have on the garden planting details …should that be consecutive weeks or spread out across the growing season for example on the beets it says 6 to 8 so would I do weekly feed 8 weeks consecutively or should that be spread out… so I’m assuming that you feed for 6-8 weeks and then stop …have I got that right?

Thanks for the tip on cold weather… I’ll keep that in mind…
Yes I’m happy as can be!

A.  Yes, you feed weekly.  Except when the weather is cold you do not feed as often, because the plants cannot uptake and use the nutrients when the weather is much colder than 60 degrees (some varieties do better in cold weather).

However, if you learn to use the secondary edible parts of the plants and you begin – about the 4th or 5th week – to remove a couple of beet leaves every week and eat them, and continue this throughout the season, you can (as we do) harvest and continue to use those same beet plants for 8-10 months!  And if you do this, instead of treating them like a single-crop plant, you will continue to feed them.  I will harvest, use, and therefore continue to feed my beets for several months.  We slow down in cold weather, only feeding every 2-3 weeks, and we stop about 8 weeks before the final harvest is expected.

Can Beets be Transplanted and Should they? When to Plant in the Garden

Q. I have read that each “b-b” sized husk beet “seed” contains approximately 6 “real” seeds – so should I crush these husks to release the “real seed” prior to planting? Also, how much prior to the last average last frost date should I plant my beet seedlings for transplant? Lastly, since they are such tiny seedlings, how large should they be allowed to get before transplanting into the garden and how far apart should they be spaced in the row – I would imagine a couple of inches at least for growing to mature beets would be minimum.

A. He’s only joking about crushing the beet seeds. Don’t do it, just plant them as they come. His other questions may have been made tongue-in-cheek also, but I’ll answer them anyway.

Beets are considered semi-hardy, and will not be killed by light frost. They are usually planted directly into the garden as much as a month before the average last frost date for that reason, and because their value usually doesn’t justify transplanting from pots or flats.

They CAN be transplanted, however, and the notion that because they are a root crop they will be stunted is not correct. The bulb will form just fine.

We sometimes use beets when teaching seedling production, because they can be planted easily as well as early, and they provide an inexpensive lesson in volume transplanting. You might want to try it yourself, to improve your transplanting skills.

The seedling is usually 3 to 4 weeks old when it’s transplanted into the garden.

Spacing – either for transplants or for seeding directly – should consider the size of the mature fruit and leave space to avoid crowding. If you enjoy eating young beet greens, which are even better than cooked spinach, you may want to plant closer together and thin them to the final 2-3″ spacing you desire.

Beet Greens – Prune or Harvest?

Q. How about getting beet greens. Can you trim off a leaf or two from each beet plant, like you do swiss chard? This would leave the root to continue growing.

A. Many people like beet greens more than the beet itself, and harvest the plants when the root is small and the leaves are tender.

However, if you want to continue growing the root you can take off one or two leaves at a time.