Favorite Beet?

Hi, everyone,

I'm growing a wider variety of veggies this year. DW suggested beets, so I purchased some heirloom seeds, Early Wonder Tall Top from Victory Seed (http://www.victoryseeds.com/catalog/vegetable/beet/beet.html) and put in my first planting. They're coming along nicely, although they need to be thinned out a smidgen.

My question is simple: What are your favorite beets? I selected Early Wonder because they're, well, early and mature quickly. I like to try others, though, but considering the range of possibilities, my inexperience, and limited garden space, your input would help me sort the wheat from the chaff, so to speak.

Thanks!

Kurt

Most, but not all are pretty good. My favorite, Blood Turnip http://davesgarden.com/pf/go/59961/index.html but the Tall Top Early Wonder is very good. A hybrid that is very uniform an flavorful is Chicago Red http://davesgarden.com/pf/go/62766/index.html I like a beet to be sweet and some fall short in that category. Cylindra for example, grows like gangbusters, interesting appearance, but falls short on flavor in my book. http://davesgarden.com/pf/go/62766/index.html

Kurt,

Have you tried beet greens? Wait until your beets get about the size of a marble before you thin them. Pull them up to thin out your rows, wash them, beets, tops and all, cover them with water and cook until tender. A little butter, salt and pepper, and you've got some mighty good eating! ☺

BTW, I like Detroit Dark Red. Here's some I canned a couple of years ago.

Red

I am with BigRed, I like the Detroit Dark Red. I think that they meet all the criteria that I look for in a beet.

Thanks, everyone. Farmerdill, I appreciate the note about Cylindra because I was considering it for the uniform slices. Detroit Dark Red looks to be a winner, too. As for the greens, I'm game to try them. I've eaten my share of collard and mustard greens, so beet greens can't be that different. Wonder if they're as good with white beans as escarole and kale are? The greens might be a hard sell with DW, but if she won't touch 'em, well, that's just more for me. :-)

Thanks again!

Kurt

Kurt, take what I say with a grain of salt, because everyones preference is different. You may not like what I like, Example, Detroit Dark Red is at the bottom of my list of preferences, has limited taste and gets woody very fast.

I'm late in planting out everything this year, it seems... Is it too late to plant beets? Do they need a cooler spring start?

I actually ended up with space in my garden for another row of something... beets would be great, if they'll still work.

Thanks!

Hmmm, I just found something about planting beets in July, apparantly it can work fine if you keep the soil moist.... nothing ventured, nothing gained... :-)

Oh good! Thanks critterologist. I just got two new types of beet seeds in the mail, and there are so many (300-400), that I didn't want to wait 'til next spring. And Red, that's just the info I was looking for on prepaering the little beets with their greens:)
Thanks again.
Margo

We like Detroit Dark Red, Crosby's Egyptian, and the Chiogga Italian style beets the best. We tend to eat the greens and stems more than the roots as we harvest these weekly waiting for the beetroot to form. The beet leaves are cooked Italian style with mushrooms and crumbed amaretti on top. The stems go in a casserole with grated parmesan and bechamel sauce.