Growing Beetroot Best Bets for Best Beets

Growing beetroot introduction

Growing beetroot in container gardens is simple . Here are some handy tips for how to grow beetroot in self-watering GreenSmart container gardens. Beetroot are very hardy plants and are incredibly easy to grow in NZ in our garden planters.In most areas you can plant in early spring right through summer.
Beetroot vary in form from being tennis-ball shaped to tapered like carrots and range in colour from deep red to yellow, white and some even have concentric red/white bands. If growing beetroot of a very long variety you may need to add additional potting mix to the GreenSmart container gardens to create more depth. Use a large GreenSmart container gardens because the small GreenSmart container gardens is not deep enough.

Conditions and Growing

When growing beetroot in container gardens they can be planted outdoors in most areas all year except May to August. They like a sunny position with free draining, friable soil. The best soil conditions are 7-25 deg C. First soak the seeds for 24 hours to break up seed clumps then plant them at a depth of about 1 cm in a layer of fine soil or seed raising mix with 2.5 cm between seeds. Cover the GreenSmart container garden with the elasticized plastic cover and wait for the seedlings to emerge – it should be about 15 days. When they are 3-4 cm high thin them out (you can eat the tops like spinach). Ultimately you will want to have 15 -20 plants in the pot. Beetroot do best when grown from seed but plants can be transplanted. If you do transplant beetroot then remove 1/3 of the leaves and take care not to damage the roots. Water them after transplanting. Continue to add water into the water sight glass as the water level drops. If the potting mix becomes too dry then beetroot becomes stringy and soft. The plants will bolt to seed if they have 3-4 weeks below 10-15 deg. C so plant in warm settled weather.

Harvesting

Can start 55-70 days after sowing seeds. They are actually members of the spinach family so the young tops can be eaten like spinach.
Start picking as soon as the beets are golf ball sized to thin them out and allow remaining roots to develop more. Twist off the stalks at about 5-6 cm above crown to avoid ‘bleeding’ (beetroot is used as a natural food colorant). The mature beets can be stored in the ground until you are ready to eat them.

Fertilisers

They benefit from blood & bone, well aged animal manures, a little lime. Over luxuriant tops are an indicative of too much nitrogen. Apply a monthly liquid fertiliser into the water sight glass (eg liquid sea weed or comfrey tea).The optimum pH is 5.5 to 6.5. The fertiliser will be wicked up with the water.

Pests/Diseases

Watch out for slugs and snails when plants are very young but beetroot are generally very resistant to diseases.

Suitable Companion Plants

for growing beetroot are onions, silver beet, lettuce and dwarf beans. Avoid planting with carrots and climbing beans.

Uses

Juices, grated raw in salads, pickled, roasted and essential in kiwi burgers.