Beta vulgaris subsp. vulgaris
Beetroot
Common names: Red beet, Table beet
Photo: Quadell · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Source
Description
Beetroot supplies deep red, earthy-sweet roots that can be used raw, cooked or pickled, and the young leaves are edible too as a chard substitute. It is easy to care for and keeps all winter in a sand cellar or clamp.
Care instructions
Sow directly into the bed from April to June; every seed is a cluster of several seedlings, so thin them to about 10 cm. Keep the soil evenly moist so the roots do not turn woody, and harvest from July before the first hard frosts. When cleaning, twist the leaves off instead of cutting them so the roots do not bleed.
Soil & site
Soil pH
Soil type
humus-rich, well-drained, loamy, nutrient-rich
Feeding
Medium feeder
Companion planting
Companion planting is partly traditional gardening lore. Where the reason is known, it is given.
Varieties
5 varieties‚Boldor’
A golden yellow variety with an orange‑red skin and bright yellow flesh that does not bleed when cooked and keeps your hands and cutting board clean.
‚Cylindra’
Instead of round balls, *‚Cylindra’* forms 15 to 20 cm long, cylindrical roots that grow half above ground.
‚Pablo F1’
A modern F1 hybrid with very even, smooth-skinned roots and strong dark red flesh with almost no pale rings.
‚Rote Kugel 2’
The dependable home-garden classic with evenly round, deep red roots and thin skin.
‚Tonda di Chioggia’
An old Italian variety from the lagoon of Chioggia whose charm lies in the cut surface: flesh ringed in red and white like a target.
Notes from real gardens
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From the magazine
Beetroot: from the seed cluster in the bed to the sand box in the cellar
Why several plants come up from one seed, why you should eat the leaves, and how to store beetroot in damp sand until spring.
Storing potatoes and root vegetables: cold, dark, kept apart
Why potatoes and apples never belong in the same room, why the cellar should sit neither below 4 nor above 10 degrees, and how carrots and beetroot stay crisp in damp sand right into spring. With wound healing, the solanine rules, rot diagnosis and the weekly check.
Edging your lawn cleanly: less follow-up work
Two gardens, the same lawn, a completely different impression: the difference is the last five centimetres at the edge. How to cut the edge with a half moon iron or a spade, what shears and trimmers do in between, and why a mowing edge laid flush with the lawn abolishes the trimming altogether. With prices and service life for metal, plastic, pavers, brick and timber.