How to sow and grow red beets
Our beets are beautifully round and deep red in color. This variety is great for growing in summer and fall. The young leaves are delicious in salads and the beets keep for a long time.
Vitamins and minerals in beets
Beets are super healthy. They're packed with vitamins: especially vitamin C and folic acid. They also contain a lot of minerals like manganese, iron, copper, potassium, and magnesium.
The red coloring is great for healthy blood vessels and can help lower blood pressure.
Fun fact: you can also eat the beet leaves. They're full of carotene and minerals.
The red coloring is great for healthy blood vessels and can help lower blood pressure.
Fun fact: you can also eat the beet leaves. They're full of carotene and minerals.
What are beets?
This tuberous root vegetable is best known as beet or beetroot. Ours is related to the sugar beet but contains fewer calories and less sugar. They still taste pretty sweet though 😉
Most beets grow round and red, but there are a lot of different types out there. Flat or egg-shaped, white or yellow, or even red and white striped.
The ancient Greeks and Romans used beets as a way to treat fevers. Here in the Netherlands, we figured out it was a tasty and nutritious vegetable around the 16th century. In the past, beets were only eaten by the poor, but now they're more widespread. They're considered a superfood these days.
Most beets grow round and red, but there are a lot of different types out there. Flat or egg-shaped, white or yellow, or even red and white striped.
The ancient Greeks and Romans used beets as a way to treat fevers. Here in the Netherlands, we figured out it was a tasty and nutritious vegetable around the 16th century. In the past, beets were only eaten by the poor, but now they're more widespread. They're considered a superfood these days.
Beetroot
This variety produces beautiful, round, deep-red beetroot and is slightly sweeter than most others. It is ideal for summer and autumn growing and stores well. The young leaves are delicious in salads.
- Variety: Monty RZ
- Family: root vegetables
- Plants per square: 9
- Height: 25 to 35 cm
- Sowing time: mid-April to mid-July
- Sowing depth: 1 to 1.5 cm
- Germination: 5 to 7 days at 12 to 18°C
- Time to harvest: from 9 to 10 weeks
- Sunlight: the more sun, the sweeter the beetroot
- Packet contents: about 85 seeds, enough for 4 to 5 squares
What do you need to sow and grow beets?
Besides the seeds, you need:
- a 30 by 30 cm square
- Makkelijke Moestuin Mix or MM coconut mix
- a spot with at least 6 to 8 hours of sunlight a day
How do you sow and grow beets?
This beetroot is included in the free Makkelijke Moestuin app. Use it and you will get guidance from seed to harvest.
Every vegetable goes through several stages, which we call levels.
The app tells you exactly what to do at each level and regularly asks you to check whether your plants are ready for the next one.
So you do not need to know how to grow beetroot successfully before you start.
But if you would like to read ahead, here is what the whole process looks like.
Level 1: Sowing beets
Level 1: Sow beetroot
Loosen the mix in a square in the middle of your raised bed, then sow as follows:
make 9 holes in the square, no deeper than 1 cm
put 1 to 2 seeds in each hole
carefully close the holes
Depending on the weather and the time of year, you will see the first green shoots after about 10 days.
Level 2: Beet seedlings
Level 2: Beetroot seedlings
As soon as you see the first seedlings, you know things are going well. They probably won't all come up at once, but give it another week.
Then it's time for the next level.
Then it's time for the next level.
Level 3: Thinning your beets
Level 3: Thin out your beetroot seedlings
When several seedlings come up in each spot that you sowed, choose the best ones and remove the rest: that's called thinning out. It might sound harsh, but it's necessary. The remaining plants need enough room to grow. You'll be glad you did it.
Here's how: take a pair of scissors, leave the biggest and prettiest seedling per hole, and cut off the others along the soil mix. Never pull them up like a weed. That can damage the roots of your remaining plants.
If you see spots where nothing came up, sow a few more seeds. Beets - like carrots and radishes - can't be transplanted.
Here's how: take a pair of scissors, leave the biggest and prettiest seedling per hole, and cut off the others along the soil mix. Never pull them up like a weed. That can damage the roots of your remaining plants.
If you see spots where nothing came up, sow a few more seeds. Beets - like carrots and radishes - can't be transplanted.
Level 4: Caring for your beet plants
Level 4: Care for your beetroot plants
After a week or 2, your seedlings will become small plants. You hardly need to do anything: if the weather's dry, give them some water and remove the odd dead or yellow leaf. Easy 🙂
Level 5: Harvesting beet leaves
Level 5: Harvest beet leaves
About 4 weeks after sowing, you can harvest the leaves for salads.
Harvest a third of the leaves at most: the plant needs the rest to make the beet grow. Also, always leave the growth core: that's the center of the plant where new leaves come in.
Harvest a third of the leaves at most: the plant needs the rest to make the beet grow. Also, always leave the growth core: that's the center of the plant where new leaves come in.
Level 6: Harvesting beets
Level 6: Harvest beetroot
About 8 to 9 weeks after sowing at the earliest, you'll see your first beets. They usually stick out a little above the soil mix.
When they're about the size of a ping-pong ball, they're ready to harvest. They won't all grow the same: some grow faster than others. Harvest the largest beets first, so that the rest can continue to grow.
Keep watering them regularly. This helps prevent the beets from getting woody.
When they're about the size of a ping-pong ball, they're ready to harvest. They won't all grow the same: some grow faster than others. Harvest the largest beets first, so that the rest can continue to grow.
Keep watering them regularly. This helps prevent the beets from getting woody.
What do you use beets for?
Most people only eat the beetroots. You can boil them, stew them or roast them in the oven. Raw beets are even healthier. You can grate them through a salad or enjoy them in a smoothie.
Young leaves are delicious raw in salads. Older beet leaves are good in stews, stir-fry dishes, or pasta.
The possibilities are almost endless. How about some latkas?
Young leaves are delicious raw in salads. Older beet leaves are good in stews, stir-fry dishes, or pasta.
The possibilities are almost endless. How about some latkas?
The last levels
The next levels
During the next level, keep harvesting the beetroot until it is all gone.
Beetroot copes well with cold, so you can leave it in place for a long time in autumn. A little frost even makes it sweeter.
In the final level, empty the square or your MM-Mini and prepare it for the next vegetable.
So: ready to grow beets yourself?
I'll bet you are 😉 Our red beets are super tasty and easy to grow. All you need is some patience.
Plus: with our app and materials, it's almost impossible to fail.
Order your beet seeds here or get started with a complete starter kit:
Plus: with our app and materials, it's almost impossible to fail.
Order your beet seeds here or get started with a complete starter kit: