beet

Cool season crop, direct sow planting, succession planting

Cultivars

Detroit Dark

Detroit Red

Golden Detroit

Chioggia

Touchstone Gold

Red Merlin

Sowing the seeds

1/2 inch deep (1 to 1 1/2 inches deep in hot weather), 1 inch apart. Can be planted every 3 to 4 weeks for successive planting For greens only, sow seeds 1/2 inch apart in all directions.

Thinning

If the beets need thinning, use scissors to cut the beet tops instead of pulling up the unwanted beets.  This method will give you delicious greens and it doesn’t disturb the roots of the beets you want to keep. Established plants should be thinned to 3 to 4 inches apart.

Harvesting

Beet tops are edible and hold more nutrients than the beet! (http://www.almanac.com/plant/beets).  Can be harvested when the beet is on the smallish side for more flavour.  If the beets are left in until they are a large size and have cracks, the beets will become woody and not as flavourful.