We often use beets to prepare first courses and “winter” salads. If we start cooking it for vinaigrette, “shuba” and other salads, it means that summer is gone, and we are starting to eat vegetables intended for long-term storage. This one is delicious, healthy, nutritious vegetable found in every dacha, growing beets in open ground is not difficult, but you need to know certain features in order to always get a rich harvest. We are so fond of this root vegetable, originally from the Mediterranean coast, that it is now cultivated in all regions of our country, despite the difference in weather, climatic conditions and soil.

There are table, sugar and fodder beets. Table, leaf and root vegetables, may differ in ripening time, fruit shape, and color of root pulp. You can grow any variety in your dacha, it is only important to know the characteristics of the variety.

Early ripening beets are planted for summer consumption; they ripen completely two to three months after sowing, but they begin to eat them much earlier. It is better to grow for long-term storage mid-late and late varieties, which ripen from three to five months. Root crops that are harvested after full ripening usually lie around all winter, but this long time beets may not grow in all regions. Therefore, it is advisable to choose a variety knowing how long it needs to grow and the duration of the warm season in a particular area.

Early varieties, such as “Cold-resistant”, “Egyptian”, “Red Ball”, “Bordeaux 237”, “Nobol”, require 60 to 90 days from the moment of sowing to ripen. Young root vegetables begin to be used for food if their diameter exceeds 1.5 cm, this is the time when the dense shoots are thinned out and the roots and leaves can already be eaten. Young juicy leaves are often used together with other garden herbs for salads, okroshka or soups.

Mid-early varieties ripen from 90 to 130 days. Beet varieties “Detroit”, “Mulatka”, “Bona”, “Bohemia” are more resistant than early ones. It does not suffer from temperature changes, withstands drought, and is less susceptible to diseases. Once fully ripened, it can be stored for a long time. It is these varieties that are chosen for consumption in winter in those regions where September brings real cold, where later varieties simply cannot ripen.

Late-ripening beets should grow from 130 to 150 days from the moment of sowing; of course, five months of heat does not happen everywhere, so such varieties are not grown in the north. Among the most popular late varieties, gardeners choose “Cylinder” and “Renova”.

Video “Varieties”

From the video you will learn about the best varieties beets for growing.

Selecting a location and preparing beds

Beets, which are not too troublesome to plant and care for in open ground, love open sunny places. So she needs to find a bed that is not shaded so that she can get the maximum all day solar heat. Every year, beets are planted in a new place, otherwise you may not see the harvest at all, and you will spend the entire season fighting diseases and pests in vain. It is not advisable to plant it after all types of cabbage, radishes, rapeseed, and carrots. Experts have different opinions about potatoes, but this vegetable grows best where tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers, onions, eggplants, legumes or grains were previously grown. As you can see, the choice is large enough that you can change the place every year - this is very important condition trouble-free cultivation.

Beets do not like heavy, acidic soils, as well as stagnant water, but they can somehow maintain their existence even there. But a vegetable grown on light, breathable soils, maybe even slightly alkaline, and if it regularly receives the right amount of moisture, will certainly produce a tasty, juicy, slightly crunchy root vegetable. It is best to select (or create) a site with fertile sandy loam or loamy non-acidic soil; such conditions will be the key to a good harvest. Often, gardeners plant beet borders along paths in beds with cabbage or carrots. This neighborhood will provide the vegetables with the necessary nutrition and watering, since the needs largely coincide.

Sowing is most often done in the spring, when the earth has already warmed up to +10 degrees, but the site is prepared in the fall. After harvesting, the bed is completely freed from plant debris, dug up to the depth of a shovel, simultaneously removing the roots of perennial weeds. If the soil is even slightly acidic, you need to adjust the pH by adding lime, dolomite flour or at least wood ash. In the fall, they fill the soil with fertilizers - be sure to add humus or compost, complex mineral fertilizers, containing in addition to the essential nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium, some other amount of iron, boron, copper, magnesium, molybdenum, manganese.

But beets are sensitive to an overdose of fertilizers, too generous mineral supplements can lead to the accumulation of nitrates, the root crops will get voids or cracks. You cannot fertilize root crops with fresh manure, only with humus that has stood for at least two years.

Thus, the prepared soil is watered and left to rest until spring to absorb fertilizers. Autumn sowing is done before winter, no earlier than November, so that the seeds do not germinate, but are preserved until the onset of heat, while at the same time being hardened by frost.

They will sprout earlier than spring sowings and produce stronger shoots, unless they germinate during an unplanned thaw, which will inevitably lead to their subsequent freezing.

Seed preparation and planting procedure

Beetroot seeds are unique; several are hidden under one shell; upon germination, up to five sprouts can form, which is why they are placed in the ground, one in each nest. Strange large drupes should have a sandy-brown color or a little greenish, if purchased seeds are colored bright pink or bluish-green, this means that they have been treated with fungicides and growth stimulants, they do not need to be prepared for sowing in any way, they are placed directly dry into the ground.

Untreated seeds need to be prepared for sowing. To do this, they are first soaked warm water, those that float up are thrown away, those that remain are wrapped in gauze or collected in a linen bag and filled with a solution of a growth stimulator (Epin, Zircon) for the time indicated on the package. You can prepare such a solution yourself. For a liter of warm water take 2 g of boric acid, 4 g of nitroammophosphate, 5 g of superphosphate, 1 teaspoon baking soda, some wood ash. Pour this solution over the seeds for half an hour. Then the seeds are kept in conditions of heat and moisture for another day.

The hatched seeds are placed in prepared furrows in the garden bed, at a distance of about 10 cm from each other. The furrows are easy to make with the end of the board - the board is placed sideways on the prepared bed and lightly pressed, deepening it up to two centimeters. Then they retreat 20 - 30 cm and make the next groove. This is very convenient: the bottom becomes smooth, dense, the rows become parallel, the distances between the rows are the same. They are lightly watered with a watering can just before sowing.

The seeds are covered with soil, watered, and then mulched a couple of centimeters high with peat or compost. Sowing is carried out when the air and soil temperatures are at least +10 degrees. If you sow earlier, then shoots will appear, maybe a little later, but such plants do not form root crops; they usually grow large leaves and rush to throw away the peduncle.

In regions with short summers it is more convenient to grow beets seedling method, plant it in the garden also at a ground temperature of at least +10 degrees. Before that, they germinate under film or at home. If the seeds were sown in boxes, then when the leaves appear, they are planted in separate cups or dug up a couple of times before planting in the garden bed, and the torn out sprouts are transplanted to another place. On permanent place The seedlings are planted after three leaves appear; it is advisable to simply move the sprouts along with the earthen ball, so it is good if they were already growing in separate cups. Such a transfer along with the native land reduces stress and speeds up the process of adaptation to a new place.

Outdoor care

After a couple of leaves appear, the plants are cared for as usual: weeded, watered, loosened, fed, protected from pests and diseases. From sowing until the leaves close, the bed with beets must be weeded all the time - weeds not only take away from the vegetables nutrients, but provoke various diseases. After the beet leaves close above the ground, weeds practically no longer grow under them.

For uniform development, root crops must receive a sufficient amount of moisture, so you need to water the plants regularly, preferably using settled water heated in the sun.

Young plants are usually watered once a week in the evening, and in the morning the soil around them needs to be loosened to prevent an earthen crust from forming. Mature plants are watered less frequently, but it all depends on the weather - hot, dry weather requires more frequent watering, while rain or cloudy weather delays watering. If in doubt, you can always check with your hand how dry the soil is to decide whether watering is needed. To water and loosen the soil less often, you can mulch the bed with peat or just hay or cut grass. At first, plants actively consume nitrogen, they need it for growth, and later, during the formation of root crops, they require more potassium, phosphorus, and boron. Therefore, after the leaves appear, the bed can be watered with a solution of mullein infusion or bird droppings, only they need to be diluted eight times (manure) or twelve times (droppings). Some people water it with nettle infusion or urea. Beetroot responds well to foliar feeding

In summer, it is watered from a watering can over the leaves with a solution of boric acid, for which 2 g of boric acid is dissolved in 10 liters of water. In the summer, water the leaves with salt water, dissolving 1 tablespoon in 10 liters of water. Gardeners who cultivate vegetables on depleted soils feed them every two to three weeks. But experts warn that excess fertilizer can lead to cracking of root crops and the formation of voids. In addition, beets are prone to the accumulation of nitrates, which we then consume, causing harm to ourselves. So all feeding should be done after mature consideration.

Be that as it may, the closer autumn is, the less often you need to water and feed the plants. Two to three weeks before harvesting, watering is stopped altogether. This applies most of all to late varieties, which are intended for long-term storage. Early ripening beets are watered as needed and pulled out when needed. Not many diseases await beets in the garden. With a lack of boron, phomosis can develop. Downy mildew can deprive the harvest, at the first symptoms (curling of leaves, appearance of plaque with) before the formation of root crops can be treated with copper-containing preparations or special fungicides. If there is waterlogging or stagnation of water in heavy soil, root beetle may occur. Attacks by beet and leafminer flies, cutworms, beet aphids or flea beetles are possible. An infusion of onion peels can save you from them. A good preventative measure would be dusting plants with wood ash and tobacco dust.

Harvest and storage

Early beets are pulled out when the roots have grown more than 6 cm in diameter, but you can eat them earlier. But late varieties that are going to be stored in winter are harvested when the leaves turn yellow, dry, and fall to the ground. If the leaves begin to dry, after a week you need to choose a harvest.

Only with the necessary care will beets please you with a good harvest.

If you don’t know how to grow beets, but want to do it yourself, then you need to know that growing table beets consists of several stages:

• preparing a bed for beets;
• sowing beets;
• watering;
• feeding;
• weeding;
• thinning;
• harvesting.

What do you need to know if you are going to grow beets on your plot?

1. It is better to plant beets in a bright place, but they also tolerate light shade quite well.
2. The soil must have a neutral environmental reaction. If the soil is sour, the root crop will be small and hard, and its leaves will grow small and reddish. At acidic soil It is necessary to water the beets several times a season with a weak solution of lime.
3. Sowing beets can be done along the edges of beds with cucumbers, cabbage, onions, and carrots.
4. Beets grow well after potatoes, onions, tomatoes, cabbage, cucumbers or peppers.
5. If at the beginning of growth the beets are exposed to cold weather and are not covered (insulated), then they may not set root crops, but will go into the next phase - they will bloom. The same thing can happen to her if the summer is very hot.

Preparing a bed for beets

Before planting beets, you need to fertilize the bed with humus or compost: add 2-2.4 kilograms of it per 1 m2. Add a little ammonium nitrate (18-19g), superphosphate (35-39g) and potassium chloride (13-14g) per 1 m2.

After applying fertilizer, dig the bed to the depth of a spade bayonet. We crush the earth and level it. The temperature of the soil for sowing beets should not be lower than 8-10°C. This soil temperature will be in early to mid-May.

How to plant beets in spring

Planting beets is possible in spring and before winter (see below).

1. In the spring, we begin sowing by making furrows in the garden bed. If we sow beets in a separate bed, then we make furrows across it - the distance between the furrows should not be less than 25-26 centimeters. We water the finished furrows. In the row, place each seed 13-14 cm from one another. We do not extend the furrows to the very edge of the bed, so that the seeds are not washed out of the ground by the flow of water at the first rain. If we sow along the edges of other ridges, then we make furrows along the ridge.
2. Cover the grooves with seeds with a 2-centimeter layer of soil or peat. We compact the soil into them by placing a stick or picket fence on top and pressing down lightly. We remove the stick. In dry weather, it is advisable to water the sown seeds every other day. We do this very carefully so that the seeds do not wash to the surface.
3. If there is a possibility of frost, then the sown beets should be covered with film overnight.

Watering beets

You need to water the beets once they have already sprouted once a week. If the summer has been very dry and hot, then you can do it every other day.

Water should be poured not on the leaves, but at the root. It is recommended to water abundantly, this is especially true at the beginning of beet growth and during the growth of root crops.

Watering can be stopped approximately 3-4 weeks before harvesting root crops.

Beet feeding

We feed beets with potassium (K)-containing fertilizer once every 11-13 days. Potassium (KCl) chloride (70g) is soluble in 10 liters of ordinary water. And pour 300 ml of this solution onto each plant (under the root).

Beets can accumulate nitrates, therefore, nitrogen fertilizers are not advisable for them. With a lack of boron (B), voids form in the core of the root crop or they rot inside. To avoid this, we feed the beets with boron fertilizer once a summer.

Loosening and weeding of beet seedlings

At the same time as the beets, the first weeds emerge. They need to be removed so that they do not create a deficiency of nutrients for the first weak beet shoots. But we try to do this very carefully. After all, if we damage the roots of beet sprouts, they will die. Therefore, it is better to wait a little. And start weeding when these sprouts get a little stronger.

At first, you can loosen and weed the rows. For this there are special tools (rakes) for loosening. With these rakes we will loosen the soil between the rows and collect all the weeds and all their roots from there.

Subsequently, each time after watering, we loosen the row spacing. This is done to improve oxygen access to the beet roots. And the weeds will not grow longer.

Thinning beet sprouts

It is necessary to thin out beets, because... its seeds are inflorescences of grains - i.e. 4-5 beet sprouts can grow from each seed. But it is unacceptable to leave them all, because they will grow from one place, and all these sprouts will not have enough substances necessary for growth.

For the first time, we thin out the beets after the first 2-3 leaves have opened. The second time we do this a little later, when 6-7 leaves have already appeared. Leave the distance between beet sprouts at least 14 cm.

Harvesting or digging up root crops

Beets ripen at the end of September. If at this time it is still warm enough and not damp, then you can leave it in the ground until the beginning of October. But when the beet leaves begin to turn yellow and dry, this is a clear sign that it’s time to dig it up.

We dig up root vegetables with a shovel. We do this carefully, trying not to damage them. We cut the tops 1-2 cm from the beets. There is no need to dry the beets in the sun, but you can dry them slightly in the shade. Carefully remove excess soil from the root crops and put them away for storage.

Planting beets before winter

To sow beets before winter, you need to choose varieties such as “Podzimnyaya-474” or “Cold-resistant-19” and others that are specially bred for this. They tolerate wintering well in the ground.

It is necessary to consider factors such as the choice of location for the garden bed.

• It should be located on a hill or you will have to make it high, up to 25-26 cm. Otherwise, melt water in the spring can wash away the sown seeds and the harvest will be meager if all the seeds are not washed away with water.
• The bed should be in a well-lit place.

We prepare the mixture for filling the seeds in advance. It should be loose and dry. Mix fertile soil with sand and compost 1:1:1. We store this mixture in a dry place: this is done so that it does not freeze later.

1. Preparing the soil for the garden bed. To do this, you first need to dig out all large weeds from the ground along with their roots. In the spring they will be the first to start growing and will interfere with the beet sprouts.
2. Let's distribute potassium (K)- and phosphorus (P)-containing fertilizers evenly over the territory of the future bed. Let's add more wood ash and humus.
3. Let's dig all this up to the depth of a spade bayonet and crush the lumps. Then we will form a bed (at least 25 cm high) and level its surface (we will crush large lumps again) with a rake.
4. Next, in this bed we make grooves 3-3.5 centimeters deep. We leave a distance of 20-22 cm between them. We do not bring the furrows to the edge of the ridge so that they are not washed away by melt water and rain.

Pre-winter sowing of beet seeds can be started without earlier than the first numbers of November. Here you need to navigate the weather: if the air temperature does not exceed 0°C for several days, and the soil is slightly frozen, then it is time to sow beets. If you do this earlier, the seeds may begin to germinate and the sprouts will die from the approaching cold weather.

It must be remembered that you need to sow dry seeds in dry soil. We place the seeds into the prepared grooves every 11-13 cm. Then we fill the grooves with the prepared mixture of soil, humus and sand. Cover it all with a three-centimeter layer of peat on top.

Do not water seeds sown before winter! Otherwise they will get wet and freeze, i.e. will die!

It is better to cover the beds with sown seeds with fallen leaves or pine needles. This is done for insulation. And there must be snow on top. If the winter has little snow, then we shovel the snow onto the ridges.

In the spring, when the snow on the garden bed has melted, we remove all the insulation (leaves or pine needles) and carefully loosen the peat. After this, cover the bed with film. You need to carefully monitor when the first shoots appear in order to remove the film in time.

Since beets sown before winter grow earlier than usual, they are used for food in the summer. Such beets are not suitable for long-term storage.

In order to collect large beets V summer season, it is necessary to begin preparing the soil for it in the fall. It is required not only to thoroughly loosen it, but also to fertilize it with manure. If the soil is highly acidic, then lime and nitrogen are added to it. All this will make the land fertile.

Planting beets

Beets are a heat-loving plant, so there is no need to rush to harvest them, otherwise they will be collected good harvest You can't do it with large root vegetables. It is necessary that the frost period passes and the air temperature rises to +16 °C. This moment is favorable for sowing seeds. They must first be soaked in cold water within 24 hours. There is no need to plant the seeds deeply, 1-2 cm into the ground is enough. The distance between them should be about 10 cm, and between the rows - 30 cm.

If the weather remains cold for a long time, then it is recommended not to waste time and start growing beet seedlings in small boxes. But before planting, the seeds must be kept in warm water for 30 minutes. In this case, it is necessary to add a little mulch to the soil prepared for the boxes so that the sprouts, after planting in open ground, quickly take root and can withstand bad weather.

Beet care

Young plants require ongoing care. You need to water them regularly, and also add a small amount of organic fertilizer and ash to the soil. Such feeding must be done 2 times a month.

To obtain large root crops, it is also necessary to ensure that nothing interferes with their growth. If weeds begin to appear near the beets, they will need to be removed immediately. In addition, it is necessary to break off lower leaves in beets, they can then be used as animal feed. This is required in order for the root crops to grow.

To get a good harvest, you need to choose unshaded areas for planting beets. It grows best on loamy, sandy loam and chernozem soils. It is recommended to sow it where tomatoes or cucumbers previously grew. You cannot plant beets in the same place where they were grown last year.

To increase the size of root crops, you can use bird droppings and mullein mash as top dressing. When the beets reach a diameter of 3 cm, thin out so that there is a distance of 8-10 cm between the plants.

It’s amazing how much a summer resident needs to know in order for his work to be enjoyable, the products to be free of chemicals, and the harvest to be sufficient to meet annual needs. One of the most commonly grown vegetables is beetroot. It is impossible to imagine a garden without a beet bed. But not all summer residents succeed. There are subtleties in growing beets in the country that you need to know in order to get a tasty root crop with good preservation.

Agricultural technology of table beets

A set of measures that allows you to obtain the maximum amount of useful elements and give a good harvest consists of certain stages:

• selection of seeds and their preparation for sowing;
• placement of root crops;
• sowing and caring for seedlings;
• root crop cultivation;
• pest control;
• harvesting and its preservation.

When choosing a place for a garden bed, you need to know that the place should be sunny, the soil should be loose and fertile. The main condition for receiving good plants When growing beets in open ground, plant them sparsely with a distance in the row of at least 25 cm and between root crops of at least 10 cm. The more, the better. In the cramped conditions of six acres, there are few such places, and if you also take into account that crop rotation must be observed, choosing a place becomes difficult. There are two ways out: sowing on a narrow ridge according to Mitlider or along the sides of beds with other crops.

Beetroot is a soil self-poisoning crop. You cannot plant beets in the same place next year; the yield will be significantly lower than with other predecessors.

Depending on the time of sowing and the region, beet varieties are selected. For autumn planting you can take the variety Podzimnyaya A-474. In order to obtain cylindrical fruits there is a Cylinder. There are successful varieties - Gribovskaya, Egyptian, Pablo and others. When choosing seeds, you need to pay attention to their color. If the seeds have an uncharacteristic color, it means they are already prepared for sowing.

Sowing beets and caring for young plants

Simple seeds represent a cluster of several seeds in one package. In this case, it is necessary to treat the seed material in any growth stimulant and leave it raw for hatching for a day. Seeds are sown to a depth of 2 cm with a distance of 5 cm. When seeds germinate, leave only a strong seedling in the nest. In the future, as beets are grown in the country, they are repeatedly thinned out to eat vitamin-rich greens.

Preparing the soil for sowing begins in autumn. The future site is well seasoned with compost, superphosphate and potassium chloride. Compost is added to the garden bed. It will be useful to water the sowing area with a 3% solution in the fall. copper sulfate. This will kill weed spores while providing the soil with the copper the beets need.

Pre-winter sowing is carried out in November, when the ground is already frozen along previously prepared grooves. Root vegetables will need to be used as early greens. Winter sowing products are not suitable for storage. For winter storage beets are sown at the end of May and later. In warm soil, the root crop develops well and quickly gains leaf mass. Often, summer residents plant beet seedlings in a permanent place. This method allows you to receive products earlier.

When growing and caring for beets, special attention is paid to the first stage of growth. Thinning seedlings or caring for weak plants planted seedling method, is a critical period. It is at this moment that the plant can be attacked by pests and diseases. Therefore, the seedlings must be watered, sprinkled with repellent powders.

During this period, microbiological preparations cannot be used. Root system cultivated plants still injured and should not be exposed to bacteria. Therefore, within two weeks, if necessary, use chemicals. If drastic measures are preferable, then ordinary insecticides are used against insects during their mass appearance, and against fungal diseases with Oxyx or Fitosporin in permitted doses.

In order for the plant to develop faster, nitrogen fertilizing is given at the very beginning after thinning. A tablespoon of urea is diluted in 10 liters of water and fertilizing is applied to the damp soil. After this, the plants are carefully loosened and weeded without damaging the root system.

The amount of precipitation will show how often to water beets in open ground. In any case, beets need one or two deep ones during development. The rest of the soil watering will be to maintain moisture. Do not overdry the soil. Root vegetables may become tough or crack. But in the last three weeks before harvesting, there is no need to water and feed the beets.

When a plant develops, it needs several feedings. When the plant gains a rosette, foliar fertilizing with microfertilizers and boric acid and the same one two weeks later. Twice a season you need to water the plants with salted water, dissolving a teaspoon of salt in a bucket of water. When pouring a root crop the size of Walnut use fertilizer Agricola-4 or potassium and. Nitrogen accumulates in beets, impairs their storage and taste, so it is not used when filling.

Boron and salt are necessary for the development of root crops. Native to the Mediterranean, beets love the salty crystals carried by the sea air. Salt will add sweetness to the beets, and boron will protect the root crop from black ulcers of Phoma.

The plant rises above the ground during filling. Do I need to hill up beets? Unlike carrots and potatoes, the root vegetable does not accumulate solanine from the action of light and does not change its taste. Therefore, there is no need to hill up the beets. When to harvest beets depends on the weather. Root crops protruding from the ground should be removed before frost or covered on cold nights.

Harvest

Beet harvesting is carried out in clear, dry weather. Trim the tops with a knife experienced gardeners not recommended. The reason is that the wounds do not dry out for a long time, and the moisture that it so needs during storage leaves the root crop. The video shows in detail how to properly harvest beets. The main thing is not to injure the skin of the product intended for storage. Root vegetables should be dried well in the shade, the remaining soil should be cleared and placed in the cellar. Beets are stored in sand, in a dry box or pit.

How to harvest and store beets - video

One of the most popular root vegetables in the garden is beets - any gardener can grow and care for them, and in the kitchen you simply cannot do without this vegetable. Moreover, not only bright burgundy healthy root vegetables are eaten, but also beet tops, which contain no less vitamins.

Suitable conditions for growing beets

To consume beets from mid-summer until next spring, you need to choose the right varieties with different terms maturation, as well as surround this relatively unpretentious culture with care and attention. Growing beets, despite its apparent simplicity, will bring remarkable results only if you follow the basic rules of planting seeds, caring for plants and harvesting.

Table beets are a biennial plant; in the first year, strong root crops are formed, and in the second year, flower stalks appear and seeds ripen, which can be used for the next sowing.

Video about growing beets

A bed for beets should be chosen in a lighted place, although even in slight shade this crop may well bear fruit. good harvests. The main thing is that the soil should not have an acidic reaction, otherwise the beet tops will grow small and red in color, and the root crops will form small and hard.

Suitable soil for beets is light, fertile, not prone to waterlogging, with a neutral reaction. Regular watering with lime solution during the beet growing season helps to neutralize the increased acidity of the soil.

Table beets like to grow on the edge of the bed, but can be planted in the center cauliflower, carrots, onions, kohlrabi, cucumbers or celery. Legumes, cabbage, eggplants, onions, early potatoes, tomatoes, peppers and cucumbers are allowed as predecessors.

Suitable soil for beets is light, fertile, not prone to waterlogging, with a neutral reaction

It is great if, when growing predecessors, the soil was organic fertilizers, because beets absorb them better when planted on a fertilized bed in the second or third year. If the land has not been fertilized before, you can add compost or humus immediately before sowing the beet seeds. On fertile soil, it will be enough to add it during spring digging. ammonium nitrate, potassium chloride and superphosphate.

Sowing beet seeds - what you need to consider

You can plant beets both in spring and before winter - in the last days of October, in order to get the earliest harvest. In the spring, you need to choose the time so that the soil at a depth of 10 cm warms up to +8 degrees. Typically, such conditions occur in early to mid-May.

It is important that during the initial period of beet growth the temperature does not fall below +4 degrees, but dry heat is also undesirable. In both cases, the beets may go into flowering without ever setting root crops.

You can plant beets both in spring and before winter - in the last days of October

Rules for planting beets:

• before sowing, the seeds can be temporarily immersed in a growth enhancer and then dried a little, or sown untreated;
• in spring, it is not necessary to form furrows in the bed; you can distribute the seeds over a flat bed every 10 cm, with row spacing of 20 cm;
• the seeds are covered with a 2-centimeter layer of soil on top;
• in case of possible frosts, protect the bed with covering material.

Growing table beets can also be done by seedlings. In this case, the seedlings are kept in a bright, warm room, and when three or four true leaves appear (in the first half of May) they are planted in the garden.

How to grow beets for a great harvest

Soon after beets sprout, they will require careful care. Along with the first shoots, the first weeds will certainly appear, which must be weeded out as they grow so that they do not take the necessary substances from the soil. At the same time, carefully loosen the row spacing, and in the future you will need to loosen the soil after each rain or watering, otherwise the beet roots will receive little air. The destruction of weeds must also be carried out regularly, preventing their growth.

Beets love moist soil, so watering should be regular.

Tender seedlings will need to be thinned as soon as the third leaf appears on the plants, and thinned again when the fifth leaf forms.

Beets love moist soil, so watering should be regular (once a week in normal weather) and abundant. This is especially important during the period active growth beets and the formation of root crops. Along with watering a couple of weeks after sowing the beets, apply potash fertilizers– young shoots need them for better development.

Nitrogen fertilizers should be used with caution, since beets tend to accumulate nitrogen in root crops, which can cause health problems when consumed. If you are sure that the beets do not have enough nitrogen for increased foliage growth, it will be enough to feed them nitrogen fertilizer twice a season.

Nitrogen fertilizers should be used with caution, as beets tend to accumulate nitrogen in the roots.

In addition to the main elements, beets often lack boron, manganese, calcium and magnesium in the soil - a lack of these microelements can negatively affect the yield, the health of root crops and their quality. Therefore, in addition to root nutrition, it is advisable to also add foliar feeding of beets with microelements.

Digging up beets for storage

It is usually carried out on warm, dry autumn days, around mid-September or October, when the root crops are fully ripe and the tops wither. At the same time, it is important to be very careful when digging root crops out of the ground, so as not to inadvertently damage them with a sharp pitchfork. Otherwise, the damaged beets will need to be used as soon as possible so that they do not have time to spoil and infect other root crops with rot.