It’s hard to beat the taste of just-pulled beets or beetroot. This is a vegetable definitely worth growing – and it’s easy once you know a few tricks!
In this video Ben shares all you need to know to grow trouble-free roots, taking us step-by-step from sowing to harvest and offering handy tips to avoid common pitfalls.
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28 Comments
How did I not see this video 'til now? Beets me!? 😁
Hi Ben, I have to give mine feeds of phosphorus, if I don't I get long useless tapers instead of bulbus roots.
How can you avoid ‘damping off’ when growing beets?
Thanks for this, I'm rubbish at root vegetables
I love my beets! This season I planted Detroit Red, Golden, Chioggia and a mystery mixed blend. I didn't have the best harvest (Mother Nature was cruel with a month of rain in June) but I've planned an entire bed for my beet babies next year. Great video and always, I love your enthusiasm and sharing of knowledge in the shorter format, thanks!
I LOVE the special effects! What a rake! What a (')ho(e)! You're neither, Ben–but in the early springtime, you can be quite seedy. 😉😂
We eat loads of beetroot. I find they freeze really well once cooked, cut into slices. They can then be used straight from the freezer with a cheese sauce – great with the Sunday roast.
We can't eat tomatoes, so I make pasta sauce using beets and carrots. It tastes very much like a tomato based pasta sauce. Thank you for the educational videos, we love watching your channel.
Nice one Ben Another great video full of helpful advice
Raw, and grated into a salad, sometimes with carrot for an interesting colour. Then a simple sauce… my favourite is with peanut butter and apple cider vinegar… sounds weird but the taste is amazing and it feels super healthy to eat
Good video Ben. But… You failed to mention the warnings about beets… Beets are extremely high in nitrates, which might negatively interact with certain blood pressure-lowering medicines. Beets are extremely high in Oxalate, also known as oxalic acid, which can cause kidney stones. I put beets in the same category as grapefruit, which also has a ton of adverse potentials. Beets are tricky and deserve caution.
I have always been allergic to beet roots. I remember trying to eat beet root when I was 4 years old and one tiny bite caused me to vomit, it was an immediate and uncontrollable reaction… I have tried them multiple times since then, some intentional, and some by accident. They have always caused an uncontrollable immediate vomiting reaction (I don’t even have to swallow them nor consciously taste them, just having them in my mouth causes it).
I remember being in my early 30s and stopping at a fine dining restaurant in Truckee, California on my way to Reno, Nevada. I ordered the quail. When it arrived, it had a fruit chutney/salsa that looked great. it had what appeared to be bits of ruby red glossy plums, they almost looked like pomegranate… I took one tiny taste and ran to the bathroom… They were beets, and I vomited in my cloth napkin, and finished vomiting in the bathroom… I was extremely angry. The waitress asked what I would like instead, and I told her they just caused me to vomit, and I wouldn’t be able to keep anything down for a few hours. She said that I wouldn’t be charged for my meal (which I didn’t eat). The very first thing I tasted was the chutney/salsa, my meal was barely touched… I’m a chef, cooking was my first career, and I had her bring out the chef, and I ripped him like I was Gordon Ramsey on a bad day… You NEVER serve anything with beets or grapefruit without citing it on the damned menu!!!
I love the way beet roots look, the rich colors are incredible. I wish I could eat them. There are a lot of people that cannot eat them… I know this from my experience as a chef as well as my personal experiences in talking to others. Most folks are unaware, as it’s extremely rarely an anaphylactic reaction. Vomiting is about as severe as it gets, people that don’t vomit usually get mild hives and rashes as well as feeling an overall itchy discomfort. Almost all of us can still eat beet greens, which are most commonly sold as red chard or included in rainbow chard. Granted, I still exercise caution and moderation when I eat beet greens, but I do eat them several times per year.
Most people can and do eat most vegetables, but beets hold the smallest share among them. They are a weird vegetable that can be dangerous to certain people. Grapefruit are one of the few citrus fruits that have negative interactions with medications and can be harmful to many. Beets are to vegetables, as grapefruit is to citrus…
Folks that love beets are always confused as to why they are not more popular… There is a very good reason for that. Many cannot tolerate them, and understanding is always a good thing. Grapefruit and beets should always come with their respective warnings, especially when trying to educate others.
Scientists have determined that some people have a certain gene that causes broccoli and many brassicas to taste extremely bitter… I suspect that there might be a similar genetic factor involved with the way people taste beets… Some folks love them, some find them bland and un-interesting. Some folks hate them, and I suspect they might taste different to different people…
Regardless… Enjoy your beets Ben, just understand that they are not for everyone, and most likely taste different to you… That’s a good thing for you, not so much for others. Beets are the only food I cannot eat, and I have always wished that I could… It’s not a choice for me, it’s just the way it is.
Cheers mate.
Are you able to share your favorite beet pickling recipe?
Beets are full of oxalates 😡
Howdy Ben! Thanks for the knowledge!😃
Your garden looks beautiful!👍
My biggest beet pest is deer. They love to eat the leaves. They actually pulled the beets out of the ground and ate all the greens. At least that made my beet harvest quite simple. Just pick them up off the ground! 🙂
I love your videos. I go outside and I am overwhelmed with both ideas and what to do with what soil compost and watering and your videos inspire me to focus on trying out new plants. Thank you Ben.
Thanks for the tips, I've tried to like red beets, but I just don't.🙁 They taste like dirt to me😝, but the golden beets, or light colored ones sound promising.😊
I generally thin my beet several times during the growing season. There used to be a variety of beet called Monarda which only grew one root per seed. I don't do clusters of beets because it tends to make all of the beets in the cluster misshapen. My favorite way to eat beets is to boil them, slips the skins off when done, slice them and serve them with butter, salt and pepper. There is not much better eating than this.
I appreciate this being posted earlier! Allows me to get plans put together for next year 👍 thanks for the amazing helpful information!
Have been really pleased with my crops as this year was the first time I had really got into it. Beetroot has been great. Love to grate and eat raw, with organic apple cider vinegar, brings out the sweetnes, yum
Thank you very much Ben. I have some old wrinkled beet roots with dried top. Can I cut the top and grow the wrinkled beet root like potatoes? I did watch some videos on planting from cutting the top and putting in water till it grows root and plant. Thanks
There is a great Polish-lithuanian dish, a cold soup made of buttermilk, beets, cucumber, leek and dill. Perfect for hot summer days.
I have trouble with mice eating my beets. This year I planted catnip around them and they did great!
Thank you! I like fresh cooked red beetroot in Moroccan salad. I have created my own fusion Dutch Moroccan potato salad which I call pressure cooker salad. I put the eggs and beets in the pot with water and small diced potatoes, carrots and beans/peas in the steam basket. Turn off as soon as the pressure builds up. Meanwhile make a dressing with mayo, chopped onion, chopped fresh parsley/coriander, black pepper, cummin powder and salt to taste. Mix the beetroots separate from the other vegetables to avoid everything turning pink and decorate with the eggs. If you want to make it the Moroccan way, you separate everything and used the different colours as decoration and add lettuce, cucumber, tomato etc.
For me the salad is based of nostalgia of the Moroccan restaurant version of 'salad Niçoise' That is what it's called on the menu in Moroccan street food restaurants
The cluster planting is a great tip! I’ll have to use it next year since I just planted my fall beet crop.
I love to add beets to my berry smoothies, taste sooo good 🙂
Beets are great for lowering high blood pressure! Beet juice, beet powder, or straight cooked beets. Not sure if pickled beets will help or not. My wife drank beet juice a few times to lower her high blood pressure when it was not regulated and when it got a little out of hand. Amazing really!
Hi ben can you please tell me about mushroom compost can I add it to my raised beds & mix a little into tomato compost that are in pots. Yours konrad and I'm learning from your videos.