Beetroot planting and care in the open field

Beetroot (beetroot) is one of the most popular root crops grown in household plots. There are two ways to plant beets: seeds and seedlings. There is no fundamental difference between them. The yield mainly depends on the structure and fertility of the soil, and many varieties of beets are quite loyal to weather conditions. If you correctly make a ridge, then you can get high-quality fruits in a drought and in a rainy summer.

Soil and bed preparation

When choosing a place for beets, you should pay attention to what crops occupied the planned area last season. Planting this root vegetable is categorically not recommended after cabbage, but after potatoes, cucumbers, zucchini, pumpkin and greens, the beet will grow well. Carrots, peas and onions are neutral precursors. When grown on an industrial scale, beets are planted after winter wheat and rye.

The beets are planted in a well-illuminated place for a long time. There should be no dense bushes, spreading trees, fence, walls nearby. It is advisable to choose a high part of the site that is not flooded by torrential rains.

It is worth considering the basic requirements for the soil for beets.

• Acidity in the range of 6.2-7.5. If there is a lot of colza, wild sorrel and horsetail on the site, then the soil is acidic. Root vegetables will be small, ugly in shape. Lime or dolomite flour must be added. When preparing a ridge for beets, moderate liming is possible in the year of planting.
• The optimal soil is loose, rich in organic matter (loamy, sandy loam, black soil). Growing beets in too clayey soil without special preparation and sanding is a waste of time and effort. The fruit will be fibrous, tough, and bitter.
• The depth of the arable soil layer is from 25 to 30 cm.

Under favorable conditions, root crops develop quickly, and an accelerated accumulation of sugar occurs.

Advice

Excessive lime content in the soil leads to a decrease in the ability of beets to assimilate micro- and macroelements. It is important to respect the dosage.

Fertilization

Beets are demanding on the content of micro and macro elements in the soil. For reference: 1 ton of root crops extracts from the ground up to 7 kg of nitrogen, about 3 kg of phosphorus and up to 9 kg of potassium. While the root system is still weak, the plant especially needs phosphorus, then intensive absorption of other nutrients begins.

It is optimal to prepare a ridge for beets in the fall, adding rotted manure, compost (about 15-20 kg per 1 m2) and phosphorus-potassium fertilizers to the soil. Mineral dressings can be embedded in the soil before planting. Of the complex additives, NPK 13-12-19 or CAS are usually used.

For winter sowing of beets, the following complex of fertilizers (per 1 m2) is applied to the soil:

• half a bucket of manure, humus or compost;
• 30 g of potassium chloride (chlorine ions prevent the accumulation of nitrates);
• 30 g superphosphate.

Advice

Beets are very fond of organic matter, but the introduction of fresh or semi-rotted manure before planting will lead to a deterioration in the taste and presentation of the fruit.

In preparation for planting, the soil is carefully dug to a depth of about 30 cm, all clods are broken, the surface is leveled and slightly compacted. Many gardeners plant beets along the ridges - long, high ridges like potato ones. Thus, the root crop is better ventilated, receives more sun, and is protected from rot and sourness. This is especially true for heavy soil. If the soil is fertile and loose, then carpet can be planted.

Landing dates

Beet seeds can germinate at temperatures of 3-4 ° C, but the process will take about 25 days. At 6-7 ° C, seedlings will appear on the 10-15th day, and when the temperature stabilizes to 11-18 ° C, the period will be only a week. There is no point in sowing beets until the soil at a depth of 6 cm warms up at least to 7-8 ° C, since the probability of death of seedlings from frost is high (the sprouts will not tolerate -1 ° C).

Planting beets in the spring in different regions is carried out at their own time:

• North Caucasus - 1 decade of April;
• Central Black Earth Region - 3rd decade of April;
• north of the Central Black Earth Region, Non-Black Earth Region, Volga Region, Bashkortostan and Altai - 1 decade of May.

Long-term storage late beets are sown in the second decade of May, you can plant them until June 10. Such varieties will have enough time before frost to fully mature, and they are stored much better than early and mid-season ones.

The terms are given roughly, for each year they may vary depending on weather conditions.

You can sow beets in a greenhouse or in boxes about a month and a half before planting in open ground. The scheme of embedding into the substrate: 4 x 4 cm. This method is suitable for regions with unstable weather. The maturation period of root crops with the seedling method of cultivation will accelerate by 2-3 weeks.

You can plant beets with seeds in the fall. There are special varieties for this, since ordinary species will begin to shoot and will not produce a crop. Sowing beets in autumn is beneficial for regions with cool, short summers. The sowing date comes when stable frosts begin, the soil is covered with a crust. In the Urals or Siberia, the right time is November. There are no general recommendations on how long to sow beets in the winter. It is important not to miss the last period before the earth "grabs" (3-4 ° C below zero). According to popular observations, the optimal time is the moment when the leaves are completely shed by the cherries.

It should be noted that autumn planting beets are not suitable for long-term storage.

Seed preparation

Beet seeds are fruit lumps, in which several seeds are collected (from 2 to 6 pieces). For this reason, many novice gardeners are surprised when, with a neat schematic sowing of seed-egg capsules, heap shoots suddenly appear from the garden bed.

Beet seeds planted in spring will hatch faster if prepared. The easiest way is to soak for a day in a solution of one of the following products (for 1 liter of warm water):

• a quarter teaspoon of boric acid and half a teaspoon of nitrophoska or nitroammophoska;
• 1 teaspoon superphosphate;
• a teaspoon of baking soda;
• a tablespoon of wood ash.

A day later, the seeds are washed, wrapped in a damp cloth and kept at room temperature for 3-4 days, not allowing the bundle to dry out.

When planting in autumn, you do not need to soak the seeds.

Sowing technique

Immediately before the spring planting of the beets, the ridge is loosened about 5 cm deep and leveled. Sowing or planting seedlings is necessary either in cloudy weather, or in the evening, so that the soil does not wind up and the seedlings do not die from the hot sun.

Planting beets in open ground with seeds is carried out according to the following rules:

• rows are made at a distance of at least 30 cm;
• on loam, beet seedlings are embedded in grooves 2-3 cm deep;
• on sandy and sandy loam soils - 3-4 cm.

In dry weather, the ridge is spilled with water in advance (in an hour or two), in rainy weather it is enough to moisten the grooves. After 3-4 days, it is recommended to loosen the soil with a spring or wire rake. After this procedure, the beets come up more amicably.

When shoots appear, they must be carefully thinned out. This procedure is carried out twice: in the phase of two true leaves, leaving a distance of 3-4 cm between the seedlings, then in the phase of 3-4 leaves. The average gap between beet sprouts as a result should be 10-20 cm. How much to leave depends on the variety, usually the step is indicated on the seed package.

Advice

If you leave too large gaps between the plants, then the roots will grow large, difficult to heat treatment.

Excess beet sprouts should not be thrown away. If before the procedure it is good to shed the earth, and pry the seedlings with a special spatula (you can use a spoon handle), then the roots will not be damaged. The seedlings will quickly take root in another place, and the shape of the fruit will not suffer in the future, as is the case with carrots.

Podzimny sowing of beets is carried out in dry soil. The seeds are placed in grooves 4 cm deep and covered with a loose substrate (you can mix soil with sand). Then the soil is lightly compacted, the bed is mulched and covered with dry leaves or spruce branches. In the spring, the shelters are removed, the soil is spilled with nitrogen fertilizer, and a film is laid on top until the first shoots appear.

Care

The main care for young beet sprouts is to moisturize and loosen. A crust must not be allowed to form on the soil. Loosening is done carefully, while the plants are small, you can do this with an ordinary old fork. Beets are responsive to this procedure, therefore it is recommended to carry it out until the foliage closes.

Top dressing

The first feeding of beets with mineral fertilizers (nitrogen) is carried out after thinning, the second (complex) - after closing the tops.

Nitrogen, potassium and phosphorus are the main elements needed by beets. If there are no complex mineral fertilizers at hand, then ash, previously mixed with compost, can be added to the soil. Consumption: 3 glasses of clean ash per 1m2.

Advice

It is better to apply nitrogen fertilizers for beets in several portions and not to abuse them, since their excess contributes to the accumulation of nitrates in root crops. Fractional application reduces the negative effect by 2 times. The best form is urea (10 g per 1 m2).

The second feeding of beets (when the fruit is about the size of a walnut) consists of potassium-phosphorus fertilizers. Consumption: 8 g of superphosphate, 10 g of potassium chloride per 1 m2. Nitrogen is no longer used.

If there is not enough boron in the soil, then the beets react by rotting the core. The deficit of copper and molybdenum also negatively affects, which can be replenished with foliar feeding (in the 10-leaf phase). For this, liquid micronutrient fertilizers are used, which contain boron in organomineral form and manganese in chelated form.

If the beets develop slowly, round yellow spots appear on the tops, then there are signs of a lack of potassium and too acidic soil. In this case, watering with milk of lime will help. Recipe: 200 g of fluffy lime, dilute 80 g of potassium chloride in 10 liters of water. The solution should be enough for 10 running meters of planting (along the line).

In case of reddening of the beet tops (sodium deficiency), it is necessary to sprinkle the ridge with ash and sprinkle with salt water (1 glass of salt per 10 liters). This procedure will also increase the sugar content of the root vegetables.

Watering

The watering regime for beets depends on the weather. In the first month and a half of plant development, the soil should not be allowed to dry out. Young beets are very fond of evening sprinkling.After this procedure, the tops freshen up, acquires a high turgor.

If the summer is not too hot, then growing beets outdoors will not be a hassle. After the tops are closed in the aisles, the moisture will erode more slowly, and the root crop is already able to get food from deeper layers of the soil.

Watering beets stops about a month before harvesting.

Diseases

Competent agricultural technology minimizes the likelihood of beet diseases caused by soil quality. Increased acidity is the cause of root defects, such as:

• scab in the form of cracks and growths on fruits;
• phomosis (zonal spotting on the leaves) - the disease can also be the result of a lack of boron;
• blackening of the pulp;
• root-eater, "black leg" (at the seedling stage);
• voids in the root crop.

However, all of the above can also occur due to an excess of nitrogen or with unbalanced feeding, therefore, fertilizer must be applied correctly.

Fungal diseases can develop: peronosporosis, cercosporosis, manifested by drying of the tops. Only treatment with fungicides (HOM, Fundazol, Carbendazim, copper oxychloride) can help.

Pests

Growing beets in the country can be unsuccessful for years if wheatgrass grows around the garden and the soil is acidic. This is the most comfortable habitat for the larvae of the click beetle - wireworms. It is they who are able to turn any root vegetable literally into a sieve.

It is possible to reduce the number of these pests of beets only by regularly used control methods:

• select yellow worms manually when digging:
• bury potato tubers in traps;
• exterminate wheatgrass, calcify the soil;
• periodically use special equipment (for example, "Provotox" granules).

Leaf and root beet aphids can also cause damage. Regular spraying with Green Soap solution, Pyrethrum will help to destroy the pest.

Beet fleas eat away the leafy pulp. In the fight against them, ash, tobacco dust, pollination with Hexachloran is effective.

If white winding passages appear on the leaves of the beet, it means that the larva of the miner moth lives in them. With a small scale of damage, the leaves break off and are destroyed. In case of mass infection, treatment with the drugs "Fufanon", "Bi-58 New" is used.

In most cases, growing beets in private plots is not a big deal. If there are few weeds, and soil cultivation in spring and autumn is done correctly, then the risk of attack by pests is minimal. Crop rotation is also an effective protection measure.

Many gardeners plant both late and early beets in the plots, providing themselves with a fresh harvest and a supply of root crops for the winter. This is an unpretentious plant, the seeds of which sprout quickly enough, the seedlings are patient to adverse weather conditions, and to get a good harvest, it is enough to competently prepare the garden bed.

Outdoor beet harvest

The key to a good harvest of beets is the observance of agricultural techniques for its cultivation. Planting beets should be carried out in a timely manner, according to the ripening time and the lunar calendar. It is also important to comply with watering rates and properly feed the crop.

Beet varieties for planting in open ground

Beetroot is a very common crop with many varieties and varieties. There is a canteen, sugar and fodder. In country and garden farms, the most popular beetroot, among which there are leaf and root beets.

Among gardeners, it is customary to classify beet varieties by ripening time, pulp color (red, red-purple, burgundy) and fruit shape. Early maturing beet varieties ripen within 60-90 days after sowing. They are intended for summer use, but not for storage. Among the popular early-ripening varieties of beets are:

• Nobol;
• Egyptian;
• Bordeaux 237;
• Red ball;
• Cold resistant.

Early ripe beet variety Egyptian

In order for the fruits to ripen early enough and, at the same time, they can be laid for storage, it is recommended to grow beets in the open field of mid-season varieties. They perfectly tolerate temperature extremes and drought, and have a high resistance to disease. The most popular among gardeners are such varieties as:

• Detroit;
• Bona;
• Bohemia;
• Mulatto.

Mid-season beet variety for open field - Detroit

Late-ripening beet varieties are characterized by good keeping quality:

• Cylinder;
• Renova.

Harvesting of these varieties begins 130-150 days after sowing, so not in all regions they have time to ripen before the onset of cold weather.

Choosing a place and preparing beds for beets

The correct choice of a site for beets determines not only the quantity of the crop, but also its quality. So, beets, cultivation and care of which are carried out in sunny areas with light, well-drained soil, will give a large yield of sweet tubers.

Preparing a site for beets

Loamy and sandy loam soils with neutral acidity are the best suited for growing beets. On heavy clay soils, hard and tasteless fruits grow, especially if the area is acidic and moisture stagnates on it.

Crop rotation rules for beets

• It is better to grow beets in areas where potatoes, onions, and cucumbers previously grew.
• After cabbage, carrots and tomatoes, sowing beets is not worth it.
• Every year, the plot in the garden for beets needs to be changed. Re-sowing in the same place is possible only after three years.

Beets feel good in mixed plantings. Neighbors such as cabbage, onions, bush beans, potatoes do not interfere with beets, but also have a beneficial effect on its growth. The proximity of beets with corn and Swiss chard is not recommended.

Choosing a place to grow beets

Advice

The culture grows well along the edges of the beds, which will save planting space, while caring for beets in the open field will be much easier, since it will receive fertilization and watering together with its neighbors.

Preparing the beds

A plot for beets is prepared in the fall, digging shovels onto a bayonet and applying fertilizers. Compost or humus (half a bucket per m²) is added from organic matter for digging, superphosphate and ammonium nitrate (20-30 g / m²) and potassium chloride (10-15 g / m²) from mineral fertilizers. In acidic soils, it is necessary to introduce ash, dolomite flour or lime.

Fertilization - ash and superphosphate before planting beets

Important!

Fresh manure must not be applied to the area where beets will be grown. Otherwise, the fruit will grow ugly and contain a lot of nitrates.

Seed preparation and beet planting procedure

The germination of fresh beet seeds is excellent. They are collected in tubers and covered with a common shell. One such tuber can give up to 5 seedlings. But, for better seed germination and if you want to get early shoots, the seeds should be prepared for sowing.

Beet seed germination

Preliminary preparation of seeds consists in their germination. To begin with, they are soaked in a nutrient solution for 20-30 minutes. Growth stimulant recipes can be different, one of the most popular:

• boric acid (2 g) and nitroammophoska (4 g) dissolve in 1 liter of warm water;
• add 5 g of superphosphates and a teaspoon of baking soda to 1 liter of water;
• it is recommended to add a tablespoon of wood ash or tobacco dust.

You can use ready-made products (Epin, Zircon). After aging in a stimulator, the seeds are washed and wrapped in a tissue bag. It is necessary to keep them in a humid and warm environment for several days.

Beet sowing technology in open ground

Seeds are sown in the spring, around the end of April - early May, when the soil warms up to 8-10º, into the furrows. If the beets are planted with seeds in open ground too early, the fruit may not set.Instead, the plants will produce flower stalks and large leaves.

Sowing beet seeds in open ground

The distance between the seeds is 8-10 cm, and between the rows - 25-30 cm. The seeds distributed along the moistened furrows are covered with a small layer of soil (1.5-2 cm) and watered. The bed can be mulched with peat or other material so that the soil warms up faster and the seedlings appear faster. Podzimny sowing of beets is carried out in November and the beds are covered with pine spruce branches.

Planting beet seeds in open ground video

Care when growing beets in the open field

So that the harvest does not disappoint, you need to take into account what beets love when growing, and which procedures should be avoided. During the entire period of growth, beets need watering, weeding, feeding, as well as measures to combat diseases and pests.

Seedling cultivation and picking of seedlings of beets

Caring for beets after planting begins with the appearance of the first shoots. Given the multi-sprouting of seed tubers, crops are often thickened and require thinning. You can do without it only when sowing single-sprout varieties. The first thinning is carried out in the phase of two leaves on wet soil.

Growing beet seedlings

It is possible to grow and transplant beets with seedlings. After germination at home, seedlings with 2-3 leaves are watered and dumped into prepared holes along with an earthen clod.

The second way to increase the volume of plantings is the sprouts torn out after thinning, they are planted, having previously shortened the root. They take root well enough and soon catch up with seedlings.

Beet thinning in the open field

With the appearance of five to six sheets, a second thinning is carried out. It is also possible to transplant beets in June with seedlings, but they will not take root as well as in spring.

Top dressing and watering

After thinning, the first feeding of beets in the open field with a nitrogen-containing fertilizer (urea, potassium nitrate, nettle infusion) is required. It is carried out under the root after moistening the soil.

Watering beet seedlings in the open field

In summer, watering beets outdoors is especially important. It is carried out by sprinkling, abundantly, in the morning or evening hours.

Unevenly moistened soil will negatively affect the yield. The fruits will be irregular in shape, underdeveloped, without a sweetish taste. Irregular watering will cause the fruit to crack. After each watering, the soil in the aisles is loosened, not forgetting to remove the weeds.

Watering beets in summer

Top dressing in the summer period is necessary for beets every 10-14 days. Boron is the most valuable element for her. They are given foliar feeding (2 grams of boric acid per 10 liters of water) while caring for beets in June. Lack of boron in the soil will lead to the phomosis of fruits, which will negatively affect their storage.

Advice

In order for the beets to be sweet, have a firm structure and crunch a little, it is necessary to feed with table salt (1 tbsp per 10 liters of water).

When the beet fruits become the size of a walnut (they will already be visible on the surface), fertilizing with phosphorus-potassium fertilizers (azofoska, double superphosphate) is carried out every 14 days.

As autumn approaches, watering of beets is gradually reduced and completely stopped two weeks before harvest, as is fertilization.

Protecting beets from pests and diseases

The main diseases of beet are:

• cercosporosis;
• phomosis;
• root rot.

Beetroot disease with cercospora

In order to avoid damage, regular treatment of plantings with copper-containing preparations (Bordeaux liquid or HOM preparation) is necessary.

Pests cause great harm to beets:

• beet fly;
• nematode;
• cabbage scoop.

Therefore, growing beets in the country requires regular insecticide treatments (Karate, Confidor).

Growing beets in the open field video

Collection and storage of the beet crop

The readiness of beets for harvesting is determined only by their size. The most successful root crops are medium in size.They are best stored and more juicy than large ones. Ripe table beets, planting and caring for which are done correctly, can be harvested no later than September, as they do not tolerate frost. It is removed from the garden earlier than other root crops in dry weather. After digging, it is laid out to dry.

Harvesting beetroot

Advice

It is advisable to tear off the tops from the fruits with your hands, since after cutting it with a knife, the wounds heal for a long time and the fruits lose juice. Only healthy fruits without damage are laid for storage, placed in separate boxes. Storage over potatoes is also acceptable.

Outcome

It is not difficult to grow a good harvest of beets on your site. It is enough to comply with the planting dates, watering and the necessary fertilizing on time, loosen the soil and not delay the harvest.

We often use beets in our first courses and winter salads. If we start to cook it for vinaigrette, "fur coat" and other salads, then summer is over, and we are starting to use vegetables intended for long-term storage. This tasty, healthy, nutritious vegetable is found in every country house,

growing beets

in the open field it is not difficult, at the same time, you need to know certain features in order to always get a rich harvest. This root crop, originally from the Mediterranean coast, is so fond of us that it is now cultivated in all regions of our country, regardless of the difference in weather and climatic conditions and soil.

Variety selection

Distinguish between table, sugar and fodder beets. Canteen, leaf and root, may differ in terms of ripening, shape of fruits, color of root pulp. You can grow any in the country, it is only important to know the characteristics of the variety.

Early ripening beets are planted for summer use, they fully ripen two to three months after sowing, but they start eating them much earlier. It is better to grow medium-late and late varieties for long-term storage, which ripen from three to five months. Throughout the winter, there are usually roots that were harvested after full ripening, but for such a 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", need to ripen from 60 to 90 days from the moment of sowing. Young roots begin to be used for food if their diameter exceeds 1.5 cm, this is the time when dense shoots are thinned out, and roots and leaves can already be eaten. Young, succulent leaves are often used together with other garden herbs for salads, okroshka or soups.

Mid-early varieties ripen from 90 to 130 days. Beetroot varieties "Detroit", "Mulatka", "Bona", "Bohemia" are more resistant in comparison with the early ones. She does not suffer from temperature changes, withstands drought, and is less susceptible to diseases. After complete ripening, 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 is not everywhere, therefore such varieties are not grown in the north. Among the most popular late varieties, gardeners choose Cylinder and Renova.

Video "Sorts"

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

Site selection and preparation of beds

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

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, air-permeable soils can even be slightly alkaline, and if it also receives the right amount of moisture regularly, it will certainly present a delicious juicy, slightly crunchy root vegetable. It is best to choose (or create) a plot with fertile sandy loam or loamy non-acidic soil, such conditions will guarantee a good harvest. Often, gardeners plant a beet curb along the paths in the beds with cabbage or carrots. This neighborhood will provide vegetables with the necessary nutrition and watering, since the needs are much the same.

Sowing is done most often in the spring, when the earth has definitely warmed up to +10 degrees, but the place is being prepared in the fall. After harvesting, the garden bed is completely freed from plant residues, dug deep into the bayonet of a shovel, simultaneously removing the roots of perennial weeds. If the soil is even slightly acidic, you need to correct the ph by adding lime, dolomite flour, or at least wood ash. In the fall, they fill the soil with fertilizers - they must add humus or compost, complex mineral fertilizers containing, in addition to the obligatory nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium, some more iron, boron, copper, magnesium, molybdenum, manganese.

But beets are sensitive to an overdose of fertilizers, too generous mineral fertilizing can lead to the accumulation of nitrates, root crops will get voids or cracks. You cannot fertilize root crops with fresh manure, only 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 carried out before winter, not earlier than November, so that the seeds do not sprout, but are preserved until the onset of heat, while simultaneously being hardened by frost.

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

Seed preparation and planting procedure

The seeds of beets are peculiar, several are hidden under one shell, up to five sprouts can form during germination, which is why they are laid in the ground, one in each nest. Strange large drupes should have a sandy brown color or slightly greenish, if the purchased seeds are colored bright pink or bluish green, this means that they have been treated with fungicides and growth stimulants, they no longer need to be prepared for sowing, they are placed directly dry into the ground.

Untreated seeds need to be prepared for sowing. To do this, they are first soaked in warm water, thrown out, those that remain are wrapped in gauze or collected in a linen bag and poured with a growth stimulator solution ("Epin", "Zircon") for the time indicated on the package. Such a solution can be prepared by yourself. For a liter of warm water, take 2 g of boric acid, 4 g of nitroammophoska, 5 g of superphosphate, 1 teaspoon of baking soda, a little wood ash. Seeds are poured with this solution for half an hour. Then for another day the seeds are kept in conditions of heat and moisture.

The nashed seeds are placed in the prepared furrows in the garden bed, at a distance of about 10 cm from each other. The grooves are easy to make with the end of the board - the board is placed sideways on the prepared bed and slightly pressed, deepening to two centimeters. Then they retreat 20-30 cm and make the next groove.This is very convenient: the bottom becomes even, dense, the rows are parallel, the distance between the rows is the same. They are lightly watered from 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 temperature is not lower than +10 degrees. If sown earlier, the seedlings will appear, maybe a little later, but such plants do not form a root crop, they usually grow large leaves and rush to discard the peduncle.

In regions with a short summer, it is more convenient to grow beets using the seedling method; they are planted in a garden bed, too, at an earth temperature of at least +10 degrees. And before that, they germinate under a film or at home. If the seeds were sown in boxes, then with the appearance of the leaves, they are dived into separate cups or break through a couple of times before planting in the garden, and the torn sprouts are transplanted to another place. Seedlings are planted in a permanent place after the appearance of three leaves, it is advisable to simply move the sprouts together with the earthen lump, so it is good if they grew already in separate cups. This transfer together with the native land reduces stress and speeds up the process of adaptation to a new place.

Outdoor care

After the appearance of a couple of leaves, the plants are looked after as usual: they are weeded, watered, loosened, fed, protected from pests and diseases. From sowing to the closing of the leaves, a bed with beets needs to be weeded all the time - weeds not only take nutrients from vegetables, but provoke various diseases. After the closure of the beet leaves above the ground, the weeds practically do not grow under them.

For uniform development, root crops must receive a sufficient amount of moisture, therefore, the plants need to be watered regularly, and better water warmed up in the sun should be used. Young plants are usually watered once a week in the evening, and in the morning you need to loosen the ground around to prevent an earthen crust from forming. Adult plants are watered less often, but it all depends on the weather - hot, dry weather requires more frequent watering, while rains or cloudy weather postpone watering. If in doubt, you can always check with your hand how dry the soil is to decide if watering is needed. To water and loosen the soil less often, you can mulch the bed with peat or just hay, cut grass.

At first, plants actively consume nitrogen, they need it for growth, and later, when forming root crops, they need more potassium, phosphorus, and boron. Therefore, after the leaves appear, the garden bed can be watered with a solution of mullein infusion or bird droppings, only they need to be diluted eightfold (manure) or twelvefold (litter). Some are sprinkled with nettle infusion or urea. Beets respond well to foliar dressing, in the summer they are watered from a watering can over the leaves with a solution of boric acid, for which they dissolve 2 g of boric acid with 10 liters of water. In summer, salt water is poured over the leaves, dissolving 1 tablespoon in 10 liters of water. Gardeners who grow vegetables on depleted soils feed them every two to three weeks. But experts warn that an excess of fertilizer can lead to cracking of root crops, the formation of voids. In addition, beets are prone to accumulation of nitrates, which we then consume, harming ourselves. So all feeding should be done on a second thought.

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 is especially true for late varieties that are intended for long-term storage. Early ripening beets are watered as needed and plucked when needed.

Not so many diseases lie in wait for beets in the garden. With a lack of boron, phomaosis may develop.Peronosporosis can deprive the crop, at the first symptoms (curling of leaves, the appearance of a bloom with a purple tint), before the formation of root crops, it can be treated with copper-containing preparations or special fungicides. With waterlogging, stagnation of water in heavy soil, root cannon may occur. Attacks by beet and miner flies, scoops, beet aphids or flea beetles are possible. An infusion of onion peels can save them from them. Dusting plants with wood ash and tobacco dust will be a good prevention.

Harvesting and storage

Early beets are plucked when the roots are larger than 6 cm in diameter, but can be eaten earlier. But the late varieties, which 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, in a week you need to choose a crop.

On a dry fine day, the beets are pried with a pitchfork, taken out, and left to dry in the garden. Then they are cut or torn off by hand (this method is considered less painful), leaving at least 2.5 cm of petioles, shaken off the remnants of the earth, sorted.

Those beets that will be stored for a long time are dried in the fresh air under a roof or in a ventilated room. And then they are already transferred to a place where it will be stored at a humidity of 90% and a temperature of 0 to +2 degrees. Root crops are stored in wooden or even plastic boxes, for better preservation they are powdered with chalk or simply sprinkled with sand.

Video "Growing and Care"

From the video you will learn all the secrets of fruitful beet growing.

Beets are one of the favorite garden crops and can be found in almost every garden plot. The secret of a good harvest of beets lies in the correct choice of varieties, timely planting and good care.

Growing beets in the open field

Variety selection

There are quite a few varieties of table beet used in cooking. Experienced gardeners recommend planting several varieties of different ripening periods. At the same time, the harvest is removed in two terms, early varieties for use in summer, mid-season and late ones - for canning and storage.

The most popular varieties:

• early - Libero, Incomparable A 463, Vinaigrette Jelly;

Beetroot Vinaigrette Marmalade

• mid-season - Smuglyanka, Negritanka, Larka;

Beetroot

• later - Cylinder, Ataman.

Beet Ataman

In addition, when buying, you should pay attention to the purpose of the variety - for fresh consumption and cooking, for canning, for storage. The shape and color of the root crop is a matter of taste, but it has been noticed that varieties with uniform pulp without rings are more juicy.

Varieties with uniform flesh without rings are more juicy

Preparing a site for beets

Beets love warmth and bright light, so they need a sunny area with nutritious and loose soil. It grows well on peat soils, sandy loams and loams with high fertility. In order to ensure a high yield, it is better to prepare the area for beets in the fall.

Good predecessors of this culture are:

• tomatoes and peppers;
• cucumbers, pumpkins and zucchini;
• greens, legumes, cereals;
• onion garlic.

Land preparation

It is not recommended to plant beets after:

• potatoes;
• all types of cabbage, radish;
• carrots, celery and parsnips.

Beets grow worst of all on the plots where their closest relatives were grown: chard, fodder, sugar and table beets.

The site is dug at the end of the garden season or in early spring on a shovel bayonet with the fertilizers indicated in the table.

It is important not to exceed the recommended doses of mineral fertilizers, otherwise the root crops will turn out to be loose, with voids and cracks. You can replace fertilizers with organic matter: rotted manure that has lain in the herd for at least two years, humus, ash.

The beds are best done just before planting.

It is better to do the beds just before planting, so more moisture will remain in the soil, and the seeds will germinate faster.The soil is loosened and leveled with a rake, if it has dried out, you need to water it well, after which you can start sowing.

Seed treatment

Beet seeds

Beetroot seeds are shriveled drupes and are fairly large in size, so they can be easily planted at appropriate intervals. Commercial seeds are often treated with stimulants and fungicides and are easily recognized by their bright pink or greenish color. Such seeds do not need processing, it can even harm. They are sown dry without preparation in moist soil.

Beet seeds treated with stimulants and fungicides

The color of untreated beet seeds is brownish, sometimes sandy with a greenish tinge. Before planting, it is recommended to prepare them in the way described below.

1. Soak the seeds in room temperature water for several hours. The floating seeds are thrown away, they usually germinate late, give small roots of irregular shape.
2. Drain the water and immerse the seeds, wrapped in gauze, in a solution of Epin, Zircon or another germination stimulator. They are kept in solution from half an hour to 4 hours, focusing on the instructions for using the drug.
3. Remove the stimulant from the solution and place in a warm place for 12-24 hours. During this time, the seeds swell, some of them peck, after which you can start planting.

Beet seed processing

Planting beets in open ground

In order for the beets to please you with a good harvest, it is important to correctly determine the planting dates. Single shoots appear at a soil temperature of 5-7 degrees, but massive and friendly shoots can be achieved only when the earth warms up to a temperature of 13-16 degrees at a depth of 8-10 cm.

This usually does not happen until mid-May. It was pointless to plant beets in open ground before - being in cold, damp soil, the seeds can rot, and the emerging plants will then go into the arrow.

Beets are usually planted no earlier than mid-May.

On the prepared beds, grooves are marked with a depth of about 2 cm. It is convenient to make them using a board, pressing it with its end into the loosened soil - the bed of the grooves will be dense, and the planting depth will be the same. By choosing a board of the desired width, you can also use it to mark the distance between the rows. It should be:

• 10-15 cm for small root crops intended for summer consumption or pickling;
• 20-30 cm for varieties with large roots for winter storage.

The grooves are poured from a watering can, preventing erosion, and left until the water is absorbed. Seeds are laid out on the bottom of the grooves, maintaining an interval of 4 to 10 cm, depending on the size and purpose of the selected variety. From above they are covered with soil or well-rotted humus and watered.

Planting beets

For large planting volumes, you can make a template, as in the figure, while the distances between the plants will always be the same.

Sowing template for beets at equal spacing

Video - The subtleties of planting beets in open ground

Beet care

Beets are unpretentious and drought-resistant, but they can only give a high yield with good care and adherence to agricultural technology.

1. In dry and hot weather, beets are regularly watered from a watering can by sprinkling. It is better to use water that is settled and heated in the sun. At the same time, the leaves are refreshed, the plants perceive the feeding better, and grow faster.

   In dry and hot weather, beets are regularly watered from a watering can by sprinkling

2. Beets must be loosened regularly to prevent the appearance of a hard soil crust. It is better to do this in the morning after watering. The depth of loosening is no more than 3-4 cm, otherwise there is a risk of damaging the roots.
3. Mulching will help reduce the frequency of watering and loosening, and also reduce weeds. Sawdust, straw, humus are used as mulch.

   Mulching will help reduce the frequency of watering and loosening

4. It is necessary to weed the beets regularly from the emergence of shoots to the closing of the leaves, after which weeds are not afraid of it.
5. In the phase of two true leaves, the plants are thinned out, leaving a gap of 3-5 cm between them. The second thinning is carried out when the roots reach 1.5-2 cm in diameter, while leaving enough space between them for the selected variety. Plucked plants can be used to make soups and salads.

   In the phase of two true leaves, the plants are thinned out

6. Frequent feeding of beets with properly prepared soil is usually not required. On poor soils in the first weeks after germination, you can water the seedlings with infusion of mullein or chicken droppings.
7. It is recommended two or three times during the growing season to feed the plants with a complex fertilizer containing trace elements: potassium, boron, copper, molybdenum. Dusting with ashes is also helpful, and will also help with pest control.

   It is recommended to feed the plants with complex fertilizer two or three times during the growing season.

Diseases and pests of beets

With good care, beets rarely get sick and are affected by pests, but for a full harvest it is important not to miss the first signs of the disease.

Fomoz		Fungal disease, accompanied by the appearance of spots on the lower leaves and dry rot of the core of the root crop. The reason is the lack of boron, it is necessary to feed with boric acid
Cercosporosis	Cercosporosis of beet	It affects plant leaves, impairs the growth and development of root crops. The reason is a lack of potassium, it is necessary to feed with potassium chloride or ash
Downy mildew, downy mildew		It can be identified by a gray-purple bloom on the underside of the tops, then they begin to dry out or rot. The plant must be sprayed with fungicides, it is better to do this prophylactically in the phase of 2-3 leaves
Corneed		An infectious disease affecting seedlings. At the same time, the leg becomes thin, turns black, and soon the plant dies. Disease occurs when there is a lack of aeration on heavy damp soils
Fusarium		Occurs in dry weather with insufficient watering. Leaf cuttings darken, root crops crack with the formation of a white bloom at the site of damage
Brown rot		It appears, on the contrary, at high humidity and excess nitrogen. It manifests itself as a brown or gray bloom on root crops. When rot appears, the fruits are removed, and the site is not used for growing root crops for 4-5 years

Compliance with all recommendations will allow not only to get a good harvest, but also to keep it until the next season, while the roots will be juicy, tasty and healthy.

Video - How to grow beautiful, healthy and tasty beets