Growing Beetroot In My Organic Garden
Beetroot seems to be a bit of an old fashioned vegetable to grow in the organic veggie garden. But I think it’s got a bit of a bad rap! Maybe it’s because we’ve all got so used to the convenience of picking up a tin of beetroot at the supermarket (that has a vast amount of sugar in it) that we’ve forgotten the virtues of the freshly harvested humble beetroot.
The thing is, beetroot is such a versatile vegetable. Pick them young and tender for roasting or boiling and serve hot like any other vegetable. They are an unusual and colourful addition to the plate and the tastebuds. I love them!
As they grow bigger and a little tougher you can pickle them (I’ll include my recipe next post) or juice them. They are delicious juiced with carrot and apple – and extremely good for you (urm… don’t worry if your pee goes a bit pink if you introduce a lot of beetroot juice – all good and healthy still).
Then if they become enormous in your organic garden, because you got busy doing other things and didn’t notice what a great job you’d done in growing them, you can use the smaller, tender leaves in all your green salads. The red veins add wonderful colour and they add an extra flavour too.
The other great thing about beetroot is that if you live in a temperate climate like it is here in the Barossa Valley, South Australia – you can grow beetroot all year round. I put my seeds in water to soak overnight, then place them directly where they will grow. Then really all you need to do is water when needed and fertilize (organic fertilizer, of course) every month or so.
Give them a go! They are so easy to grow, take very little care, taste and look delicious and have real health benefits.
Happy Organic Gardening, Healthy Living…
Julie
Filed under: vegetables
Hi Julie,
Just came across your website – what a gem!
Just a quick question – what do you fertilise your beetroot with??
Cheers,
Lotte
Hi, Julie, I also live in BV and have a good veg garden but have trouble with beetroot.
I don’t seem to have trouble growing beetroot here. What’s your soil like? If it’s really sandy like much of the Nuri area then you’ll need to enrich the soil by adding organic matter. I grow beetroot from my own seeds that I’ve saved, but I’ve used bought seed before too. Don’t try to grow any root crop from seedlings you find in nurserys or hardware stores. Root crops need to go in as seeds – they despise being transplanted.
Also root crops prefer well established soils. If you’re trying to grow carrots say, in virgin soil, they’ll probably grow quite deformed and often fork. They really need well turned over soils, without any clumps or stones. Not so much for beetroot, but there’s the tip anyway.
Warmly,
Julie