hmmm, interesting. The Detroit Dark Red's have been great!
How do you grow BEETS?
I noticed the beets have started to get a little bigger. Not sure if it's due to the fertilizer I gave them Apr 2nd, or all the rain we've had recently. Perhaps a little of both.
T-rock, thanks for the link. I can see why I haven't come across it, our soil is more acidic here. I guess Texas has more alkaline soil and needs the sulfur maybe? All in all it looks like a good formula to me.
Honeybee, I had an inch of rain in that big storm last night. I'm sure the beets will be bouncing out of the ground soon! Beware, hope your pot is big enough to cook one in! *grin
Shoe
Shoe -
Quoting:
Beware, hope your pot is big enough to cook one in!
O, yes, I have an eleven quart stainless steel stock pot with a strainer insert - it's plenty big enough. Great for making turkey bone soup too.
Pulled three beets today. Chopped, steamed and froze the leaves for later. Boiled the beets for this evenings dinner. Snuck a taste, (of course) and it really was good 'n sweet.
Thanks again to Farmerdill for suggesting "Merlin" beets, and to all the other DG members who gave such great advise.
Okay, update:
The beets I planted mid March were stalling, but seem to be growing (picture below). I planted four plants, but noticed the other day that one of them is dying. I think the leaves wilted, and then they seemed to 'stick' together. Tried to pull them apart, but it really sticky and gooey and GROSS! Gonna pull it tomorrow. The others seem to be healthy..... Do you think it's because the fourth plant was right next to a marigold? perhaps the funky cool science thingy that makes marigold such a great companion for tomatoes makes it bad for beets?
going to fertilize sometime this week.
Can I use a general fertilizer for my whole bed, or should I do different ferts for different plants?
a closeup of one of my beet plants.
didn't get a photo of the really gross dead beet (oh! get it - dead 'beet') LOL!
SoFlaCommercial -
Quoting:
Can I use a general fertilizer for my whole bed, or should I do different ferts for different plants?
There should be no need to use different fertilizers for different plants.
Personally, I put fertilizer under the plants before sowing seeds or transplanting seedlings. I work it in real well with the surrounding soil. Once plants are well established, I side-dress every two weeks by scratching the fertilizer into the soil at the drip-line of each plant.
I, too, have a couple of beets that wilt no matter what I do. (shrug) Only mother nature knows why this is happening.
HoneybeeNC:
Someone a few weeks ago mentioned that beets don't do well in Florida in the summer, so I should be glad that the other three plants are growing at all.
I can't wait to harvest them - if they taste anything like they look, it'll be a great dinner!
SoFlaCommercial - from what I remember, there were very few vegetables that did well in the summer in South Florida. I mostly grew in the Fall and Winter.
They definitely don't like the heat. I haven't found the perfect time to plant here in Houston. I usually start them in Oct. but they take until spring to grow. So I was going to start them later this year, like Jan., but wasn't able to put in a winter garden. SO, maybe this time I'll experiment and do some in Oct and some in Jan.
Janet,
I believe the first time I sowed beet seeds, I believe it was somewhere's around Aug-Sept. They took forever to come up, but once they did it was cooler and they took off.
This season I will sow the beet seeds at the beginning of September, October and November and see which timeframe does the best!
Linda
Ah, a fellow amateur (mad) scientist! We can compare notes later... :) And enjoy this cool weather! I'm about to go outside and get dirty!
This is my first harvest from my row of beets. I would guess that I picked about 1/3 of the plants. There were many that had not formed a large root due to crowding, since I never thinned the seedlings. I will continue to water and see what I find in another 2 or three weeks. I'm hoping that this picking is enough for a couple dozen pints of pickled beets.
Most of these are Detroit Dark Red, though there are also a few Chiogga and Crimson Globe.
David
That's a good haul David.
Yum!! I'm definitely going to plant them this fall!
My beets are up! Poor weather this spring but great for beets & carrots germinating.
Cool & wet! Carrots are up too.
David,
That is an EXCELLENT haul of beets. Here's my Aunt Beatrix's pickled beets recipe:
Aunt Beatrix's Pickled Beets - FINAL VERSION
Pick and clean fresh beets under running water. Trim the greens from the beets, leaving about 1" of the stalk attached so they won't bleed. Reserve the beet "greens" for another dish.
Put the beet bottoms into a pot of water and bring to a boil. Lower the fire and gently boil at medium just until the beets are tender enough to stick a fork in them. Remove from fire, drain, and let cool long enough to handle. Peel the outer "shell?" "membrane?" off. It should come off easily because you boiled the beets.
Slice the beets and arrange in layers into a container that will have a tight lid on it. Add two tbls. vinegar (you can control how "vinegary" you want your pickled beets to taste), a pinch of salt (just enough to enhance the natural beet sugar), two tbls. SUGAR (again, adjust to your taste) and enough Olive oil to cover the slices just to the top.
Slice a large, red onion into long (julienned?) strips about 1/4" wide and sautee these in a saucepan with a little Olive oil. Add some fresh minced garlic and some salt (you get to control how "salty" your onions are, so play with the recipe to your taste buds). Sautee until the onions begin to carmelize, then pour the remaining oil and the onions and arrange on top of the beets. Aunt Beatrix says you can also sautee some bell pepper, too. And at Christmastime, use red, yellow, and orange bells for a festive platter of beets!
Cap container with a tight fitting lid and put in the fridge. The more the beets marinate, the better the flavors blend.
As long as your beets are covered by the oil and vinegar, they will be perfectly good to eat. I ate pickled beets as far out as three weeks (because I was eating them slowly, and all by myself).
Preparing these for me was a gesture of love. Aunt Beatrice cooks them so deliciously, but can't eat beets because they give her very bad headaches.
Enjoy!
Thanks GG, I'll give these a try.
That sounds delicious! How soon can you start to eat them, and how long do they stay good? I'm growing beets for the first time this year and so far germination and growth looks pretty good. So far they're only 1" high, but my mouth waters whenever I look at them, and I anticipate a bumper crop.
Pam
Quoting:
,How soon can you start to eat them
After you pickle them? IMMEDIATELY. But, the longer they sit in the brine, the better they taste.
Quoting:
...and how long do they stay good?
I'd say, as long as they're under the vinegar & oil solution, they'll keep indefinitely in the refrigerator.
P.S. Sprinkle the salt generously on your onions before you sautee them (within reason, of course..) The contrast of the salty onions and the sweet beets is unbelievable!
This message was edited May 11, 2011 1:06 PM
Yum mm mm!! Can't wait!
Pam,
Be sure to post a recipe report, ok? I like recipe feedback!
Several hours of cleaning, cooking, peeling, slicing and canning resulted in 18 pints of pickled beets. Growing was the easy part
David
Wow! David- they look yummy! Do you do any Harvard beets? I love them-
The beets I have are mostly Detroit Dark Red. There were a few Chiogga, golden and white. Next time I may try Bulls Blood.
LOL! I meant Harvard beets-the process. They are sort of pickled, with sweet thick "juice"
I've grown Bull's Blood and Pronto and both are great! I didn't care for how my Chiogga turned out. They were just bland and not very juicy. I think I'm going to buy several bunches of organic beets next grocery trip and pickle them!
Janet, my store bought, organic beets have been boiling for the third hour now!
One they get tender I'm shutting It Down. They'll get pickled tomorrow!
Jo,
I confess my ignorance. I think I've had the beets with the thickened juice. This batch was my family's traditional recipe. It has 2 parts vinegar, 1 part water, 2 parts sugar, cloves, mustard seed, and salt. They are sweetish and spicy, with the clove and mustard.
David
David - your pickled beets look divine. Much more work than I'm prepared to give. I boil, peel, slice, and eat ours :)
Gymgirl - three hours?! - Mine take 35 minutes!
35 minutes is a good number. I asked my wife, said she never timed it but about ½ hour to 45 minutes. Of course ours are not organic, only chemical free.
I wondered about the three hours as well. Maybe they are large beets and she did not slice them. Gymgirl, why the long boil? Inquiring minds are here!
Ok, now ya'll have ME wondering!! Yes, the beets are quite large. I bought them several weeks ago and they've been in the fridge. They're still good, just taking forEVER to get tender. I shut 'em off at 11 and went to bed. Put em' back in the fridge and will continue boiling them tonight...sheesh.
MaryMcP,
You slice your beets before you boil them? I never have done it that way. I boil the beets whole, then cool, peel and slice them. Then, I reduce the beet juice liquid I boiled them in to mix with the olive oil, vinegar, and sugar. I sprinkle a bit of salt on the onions, and saute them in olive oil just until they're translucent. Finally, I cover the beets with the syrup reduction, the onions and all the extra olive oil and put them into the fridge.
That's it!
gg, if we're having them with dinner - as in I'm not preserving them - yes. I peel them first, slice into rounds and steam, not boil. When done, few minutes(?) I dunno, 20 maybe at most, I drain, (saving the liquid if I don't forget) dump in butter, sprinkle with dill weed and any other spices I've a hankerin' for, something hot, cayenne pepper most likely. Then we're good to go!
Edited to say that DH loves his smashed taters made with beet juice. Whattaguy!
This message was edited May 12, 2011 1:43 PM
I don't slice my beets before cooking them, either. I always thought they would "bleed to death" if I sliced them first!
I boil them whole, peel them while still hot under cold running water, let them go cold, then slice them with a mandoline so all the slices are the same thickness.
ditto here, folks. Can't imagine boiling beets for 3 hours, by they they would be completely washed out, no nutrition, etc. Linda, I wonder if you got sugar beets or maybe a mangel variety.
As for me, I seldom boil beets at all, preferring to bake them instead. Put them in a baking pan, add just a tad of water, cover w/foil, and bake around 350º. Not only do they not lose their color but they really offer much more flavor than when boiled. Once cooked you can then eat as is or follow through with canning, pickling, etc.
Mary, your recipe w/ the dill and cayenne sounds great to me! I'm gonna have to give that a try. Thanks!
Shoe
Oven at 350. Beets, turnips, carrots, onions, fingerling potatoes. Coat with good olive oil, a bit of salt, pepper, pinch of sugar. Bake without cover until tender, turning/stirring once or twice. Sounds good along with my lamb chops for tomorrow!!
Shoe - how long does it take (approximately) to bake the beets? I assume you bake them whole, and the beets are roughly two inches across.
Honeybee, for small beets cooked at 350º I'd go 35 minutes to an hour or so. Bigger beets will take a little longer at that temp BUT you can also bake at 450º to help cut down the cooking time. As long as there is a bit of water in your baking pan and foil to hold in the moisture the beets will come out nicely.
And yes, I prefer to bake them whole leaving an inch or so of stem so they don't bleed. The skins will easily slip off when cooked, holding them under running water helps a bit. You'll end up with a very dark colored beet, lots of nutrition still within, and extra flavor. I bake large pans of them at a time so I can have some served with a bit of butter and seasonings, pickle some of them, and/or freeze them cooked for winter use. And don't forget to cook the greens! Yummy!
Shoe...who's almost getting TOO much rain again. Hope your garden is doing great!