UKH

planted some over the easter weekend, and they've grown really well. starting to see the bulby goodness just poking up through the soil, but how do you know when they are ready do harvest and gorge on?

ta again!

In reply to wildcountryfriend: Beetroot



Plant Height
Up to 30cm/12"

Time between sowing and harvesting
About 10-12 weeks

Where to Sow
Outdoors in open ground or in containers at least 22cm/9" wide

Sowing time
Outdoors late March to July - temperature +10C/50F.

How to Sow
2 seeds 2.5cm/1" deep - 10cm/4" between seeds - in rows 30cm/12" apart or in groups/blocks

After Germination
When the seedlings are 2.5cm/1" thin to 1 seedling per station. Throw away the thinnings as these do not transplant well.

Growing on - in Pots
Keep well watered and avoid dry spells to prevent the beets becoming woody or splitting

Growing on- in ground
As above

Aftercare
As above

Harvesting
Start pulling the beetroots once they have reached the size of a golf ball, pulling alternate plants to give space for the remaining roots to reach maturity (about the size of a cricket ball).

Taken from: www.recipes4us.co.uk

In reply to wildcountryfriend:

As soon as the seedlings start growing jump up an down on them with crampons on. Beetroot are beelzebub's bumnuts and should be exterminated with extreme prejudice.

In reply to MaxB: Beetroot is gorgeous, especially homegrown!

:oD

In reply to marie:

Bleeeeeuuuuuuurrrrrgggghhhh!

Yuk yuk yukkity yuk. I hate the stuff with a passion.

In reply to MaxB:

Though if more people grew their own I wouldn't have to look at them in the supermarket....

In reply to MaxB:

Beetroot is one of the two things I cannot eat (the other is walnut)

In my mis-spent youth, I spent a fortnight in a Russian Orthadox Monastery in Eastern Finland. Due to bad planning, I went during one of their fortnights of fast. SO I came back from a hard days work picking berries and fungus in the forest to find the only foor available was a beetroot broth

Ughghghghghgh.

Y.

In reply to Yrmenlaf: beetroot broth .... borsch delicious

In reply to pagoda:

Not from Richard (just using his machine).

Cook in the microwave.

Once cooked, chop into 1cm cubes ish. Mash garlic. Grind up some walnuts. Add balsamic vinegar (only a little) to beetroot. Add in garlic, add walnut, add some greek (preferably) yoghurt. Salt and pepper. Leave in the fridge for an hour or two. Yum.

In reply to Richard:

Wear gloves while doing it. Otherwise you'll have pink hands for at least a week.

In reply to wildcountryfriend:

I'm not mad on beetroot, but we grow our own. Jon likes the bulbs, I like the leafy bits.

The best way to cook 'em is in a kind of a curry. I forget the recipe now, but it's a Madhur Jaffrey one. From what I remember, you chop the beetroot into wedges. Fry it with loads and loads of roasted cumin seeds, bit of turmeric, ground coriander, then add enough chicken stock to steam them in (so about 1/2 of the way up the wedges when you put them in the pan). Boil em up in a covered pan. I completely forget for how long, but until they're somewhere between hard and soft (kyak kyak). Add a bit of tinned tomato. Slurp! This is the only way I'll eat beetroot.

In reply to wildcountryfriend: make sure you make the most of the beetroot greens as they are the good shit.

In reply to wildcountryfriend:
depending on the variety that you planted,but for most of them you can leave them in the ground.in the paquet you should see the size of them mature, they can get woody if left too long.the variety that i have goes from mini beetroot 1 inch size to an other variety who goes up to 4 inch wide.to seed them again now is a good idea.

In reply to wildcountryfriend: If you feed silkworms beetroot leaves, they produce pink silk. Humans "produce" a similar result if they eat enough of the stuff. Although it's more a browny/purple colour.

In reply to Chris Fryer:
If hollow out a beetroot and put a daffodil bulb in it, when it flowers the petals go a wierd purplish/yellow colour too. :0)

In reply to haze01:

Why would ANYONE bother to grow beetroot it is vile but then why would ANYONE EVER bother to grow brussel sprouts?

In reply to Richard:

This is the most disgustingly vile thing I have heard. An offence to garlic, balsamic vinegar and Greek Yoghurt. Had I not just eaten a peanut butter & marmite sandwich, I would have been feeling quite unwell.

Y.

In reply to nz Cragrat:

its ready in winter,and it goes well with turkey,its also a funny looking veg,pretty hard to growth.

In reply to everyone!

thanks, it does seem to be similar to the marmite love/hate with you lot!

it goes great with orange too - as is a beetroot and orange segment salad on a summer evening.

i'm just growing it to juice it mostly though.

cheers all!

wildy, soon to be the one sporting a purple tash.