Beetroot widely known and useful vegetable. It is easily grown, long stored. In fairly harsh conditions of our country provides us with essential vitamins during the harsh winter and during the spring of beriberi. Under the conditions, if you take care and love the plant, planting this vegetable with seeds in open ground is not difficult.
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The correct time for planting beets in open ground
Beets are planted in different ways. It can be planted with seeds or seedlings. Do it in the spring or autumn, it is important to respect the correct timing. Spring planting of seeds in open ground is carried out in 1-2 decade of May, after full warming up of the soil.
You can plant beet seeds in autumn, late October or NovemberIt depends on your region. Landing is done when the air temperature drops to -4 degrees. Do not rush to planting, if the seeds planted wake up under the influence of heat, they will die.
Sometimes beets are planted with seedlings. With this method, the seeds are planted at home in special boxes. You can plant seeds at the cottage in a greenhouse or greenhouse.
Seeds for seedlings need to be sown early April, a month before they can be placed in open ground. Planting beet seedlings allows you to get an early harvest and save seeds,since it is possible to plant on the beds and sprouts that remained after thinning.
The most popular varieties for growing in the country or garden
Beets can be sugar, feed or dining. Varieties of sugar and fodder are usually grown on an industrial scale and are not sown in summer cottages. On garden beds it is more usual to see red beets.
There are a lot of popular varieties; they differ in growth rate and storage time. All table varieties are distinguished by high taste and brightness of color. Here are some:
- Detroit. Early variety, specimens are not very large with excellent taste. Root crops of bright claret color without rings on a cut, weighing about 200 g. The grade provides high yields.
- Cylinder. Mid-season fruit root. Fully justifies its name. Beet red, cylindrical form up to 16 cm in length. Resistant to disease, stored for a long time.
- Darling. Mid-season variety with excellent yield. Delicious, does not lose color when cooked. Weight 300-350g. It has good keeping quality.
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- Detroit
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- Cylinder
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- Darling
Some varieties are excellent for the middle band, others for the Urals and Siberia.When choosing seeds for planting, be sure to consider the weather features of your region.
Varieties to plant in Siberia and the Urals
In the Leningrad and other cold areas especially popular Merchant, Cold-Resistant 19, Ordinary Miracle. These varieties are distinguished by excellent resistance to disease and cold, high yields. The cylinder is also well accustomed in these regions.
To plant in the suburbs
In the suburbs and western regions grow many varieties. Some gardeners prefer juicy early varieties that can not lie until spring, but very tasty and provide vitamins in the fall and winter. Others, planted late varieties, less juicy, but stored for very long.
Early varieties include Red Ball, Detroit, Mulatto. All of them give high yields, differ in color intensity and good taste.
Bordeaux, Cylinder and Mona, also attracted Muscovites. These are later varieties, with a high yield and remarkable taste, they are stored for almost a year.
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- Red ball
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- Mulatto
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- Bordeaux
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- Mona
Instructions planting beets seeds in open ground
Soil preparation
Before planting a vegetable according to the step-by-step instructions, you need to prepare a bed for beets, do it in the autumn. Any sunny, open well-drained place is chosen, on which cucumbers, tomatoes or onions grew before. Vegetable grows poorly in places where carrots or cabbage used to live. Does not transfer the neighborhood with celery and garlic.
You can plant a vegetable at the same place in 3-4 years. It does not tolerate waterlogging, it is better not to place the beds on clay soils. Sunny, well-drained areas for planting, what this vegetable needs for good growth.
The selected area is completely cleared of any parts of the plant (roots, leaves, seeds). Humus is introduced into the soil, a complex of mineral fertilizers and the earth is dug up to the depth of a shovel. To make the soil for beets less dense, the soil is mixed with sand or sawdust. An excellent vegetable food is wood ash.
If the soil in the selected area is acidic, add a little lime, changing the pH to neutral or alkaline. The best value for beets is 6-7.
In the spring, the soil in the garden is loosened with a rake and introduced complex mineral fertilizer. Culture requires nitrogen and potassium phosphate fertilizers, as well as treatment from pests.
Planting seeds in the spring
Seeds are sorted and they need to be kept for 24 hours in the solution. growth stimulator or wood ash. For the preparation of which 2 tbsp. l ash poured liter of warm water, mix well.
After 2 days, the solution is drained; not only beets can be soaked in it, but also the seed material of other vegetables. Ash provides seeds with a complex of essential minerals. After a day, they are washed and placed in a damp cloth before planting.
On the bed spend smooth grooves with a depth of 2-3 cm. These grooves shed water, some gardeners prefer warm water. When water is absorbed, large seeds of beet are placed one at a distance of 10 cm from each other and sprinkled with earth.
Beet seeds are multi-growth, one beet seed gives from 2 to 6 shoots. Ascended seeds, thinned after the appearance of 2 leaves. The second time the procedure is carried out when 4 sheets appear.
Autumn planting
Often beet seeds are sown in the open ground in the fall when the air temperature drops to -4 degrees. In this case, the soil is prepared in the same way, but the bed is made high, 20-25 cm, so as not to be washed away by melt water. The grooves in the autumn planting deeper 4 cm.
Seed material during autumn planting is not necessary to soak and the bed is not watered.
Advantages of autumn planting:
- seed material perfectly tempered over the winter;
- early amicable shoots are provided;
- time is freed up for other garden affairs;
- the harvest has ripened much earlier.
This method has only one drawback, but it must be taken into account. Harvest beets planted before winter not stored for long.
To protect the seeds from frost, the bed is covered with straw above, you can throw snow. In the spring, when the air warms up to + 7-10 degrees, straw is removed. This method allows you to get an early harvest, even when the spring heat lags.
Planting seedlings at home
Seeds are planted in special boxes or under the film in the country, one month before landing in open ground. The distance between the rows of 5-8 cm, between seed 3-5 cm. When 2 leaves appear, the seedlings are thinned, leaving the strongest sprouts, after the appearance of 4 leaves, it is watered abundantly, carefully, together with a clod of earth transferred to open beds.
Before planting in the ground, seedlings begin to harden, daily removing the film and airing sprouts at home. To sprouts are accustomed to them need 7-10 days.
Planted one sprout, after 10 cm. At a tender age sprouts perfectly take root in a new place. Such a good way allows you to get a high, early harvest and save on seeds, because all the sprouts can be planted.
At what distance and according to what scheme to land in the ground
On narrow and long beds, the vegetable is often sown across, with the distance between the seeds 10 cm, and between rows 20-25. This method facilitates the care of crops. This is a single line method.
With the two-line landing method, two straight grooves are made at a distance 25 cm from each other, then leave a free tape 50 cm wide. So alternate landing. They also use a three line diagram when the vegetable is planted in 3 rows, through 20-25 cm. This is done to facilitate watering, weeding and loosening the soil.
Beet unpretentious vegetable, which gives excellent yields, if you follow the described tips and secrets.Gardeners grow it in the southern regions, Belarus, the Chelyabinsk region, the middle belt and the northern regions. It is good, in the familiar to us first dishes, various salads, from it make preparations for the winter.
It is wonderfully stored, providing us with the necessary minerals and vitamins before the new harvest. It is able to clean the blood, and normalize digestion. All these qualities have made beetroot popular with various nations, and the history of its cultivation has been calculated for many centuries.