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Chioggia beet

Sowing in:
J
F
M
A
M
J
J
A
S
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D

€ 3,89

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Description

Red and white striped beets, just for fun. 😉  And for the flavor: the beets themselves are sweet and the leaves are tasty too. Add to a stir fry or eat raw in a salad. 

Specifications

Sowing time: mid-March - mid-August
Height: 40 cm
Contents: 0.5 grams

In the app

Sowing: 15 April - 31 August

Level 1

seeds are sowed

Level 2

first seedlings

Level 3

thinned seedlings

Level 4

little plants

Level 5

first leave harvest

Level 6

first beets harvest

Level 7

harvesting

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  • Sent by PostNL or Transmission
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  • The app helps you with almost everything you do in your vegetable garden: sowing, tending, and harvesting.
  • If something goes wrong, the app tells you what steps to take.
  • If that doesn’t work, you can ask us for advice.
  • If that still doesn’t help, we’ll look for other solutions together. Until we get it right.

Chioggia beet

Chioggia beets are real stunners: they've got beautiful red and white stripes.

These beets are slightly sweeter than red beets. They’re delicious raw in a salad and the leaves are edible too.
  • Species name: Chioggia
  • Family: root
  • Plants per square patch: 9
  • Height: 25 to 40 cm
  • Sowing time: mid-April to late August
  • Sowing depth: 1 - 1.5 cm
  • Germination time: 12 - 18°C and in 5 - 7 days
  • Time to harvest: after 9 - 10 weeks
  • Sunlight: the more sun there is, the sweeter the beets
Want to buy Chioggia beet seeds? We sell seed bags separately, or you can get them as part of our extra special seed pack:

What do you need to grow your own Chioggia beets?

Just this:
  • a 30x30 cm patch with airy, nutritious soil mix
  • Chioggia beet seeds
  • a place that gets at least 6-8 hours of sunlight a day

In other words: an MM-Mini, or a square patch in one of our garden boxes, filled with MM-Mix.

Growing your own Chioggia beets is super easy with the MM-Mix. If you grow in low-quality (potting) soil, disappointment is pretty much guaranteed. So don't skimp on soil mix: go for the best.
Chioggia beets in an MM-Mini in the Planty Garden
Chioggia beets in an MM-Mini

How do you sow and grow Chioggia beets?

Our Chioggia beets are included in the free Planty Gardening app. Use it, and you'll get step-by-step guidance from seed to harvest.

Each vegetable goes through a number of stages - we call them levels. The app tells you exactly what to do at each level and checks in when your plants are ready for the next.

So you don't need to know how to grow Chioggia beets before you start: the app takes you through every step.

But if you'd like to read more about those steps, here's what the whole process looks like:

Level 1: Sowing Chioggia beets

Level 1: Chioggia bieten zaaien

First, pick a square patch in the middle of your garden box and loosen up the damp MM-Mix. Then, sow like this:

  • poke 9 holes in the square patch (no deeper than 1 cm)
  • put 1 to 2 seeds in each hole
  • carefully cover the holes with soil mix

After about 10 days, you'll see something green come up. It depends a bit on the weather.
Seeds of the Chioggia beet
Chioggia beet seeds

Level 2: Chioggia beet seedlings

Level 2: Chioggia bieten zaailingen

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.

Level 3: Thinning out beets

Level 3: Bieten moet je uitdunnen

Several seedlings come up in each hole you sowed? Choose the best 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. 

Here's how: take a pair of scissors, leave the biggest and prettiest seedling per hole, and cut off the others at the soil line. 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.
These Chioggia beet seedlings are ready to be thinned out
These Chioggia beet seedlings are ready to be thinned out

Level 4: Caring for your Chioggia beet plants

Level 4: Verzorging van je Chioggia plantjes

After a week or 2, your seedlings will become small plants.

You hardly need to do anything for the next 5 weeks: if the weather's dry, give them some water and remove the odd dead or yellow leaf. Easy 🙂
Small plants: 1 month after sowing in the Planty Garden
Small plants: 1 month after sowing

Level 5: Harvesting beet leaves

Level 5: Bietenblad oogsten

Chioggia beet plants produce a lot of fresh green leaves, more than red beets. They grow taller too.

About 4 weeks after sowing, you can harvest the leaves for salads.

Harvest - at most - a third of the leaves from each plant: it 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.
Fresh green leaves of the Chioggia beet can be harvested for salads
The Chioggia's been fresh green leaves

Level 6: Harvesting Chioggia beets

Level 6: Chioggia Bieten oogsten

About 8 to 9 weeks after sowing - at the earliest - you see your first beets. They often 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.
Harvest the largest beets first and leave the others to continue growing
Freshly harvested Chioggia beets

What do you use Chioggia beets for?

Most people only eat the beet itself. You can boil it, stew it, or roast it in the oven. 

Raw beets are super healthy. You can grate them through a salad or enjoy them in a smoothie.

Since these beets have such a beautiful striped center, it's nice to slice them in a salad or use them as an edible garnish. If you boil the beets, they become paler in color and the stripes are less visible.

The young leaves are delicious raw in salads. Older beet leaves are good in stews, stir-fry dishes, or pasta.

The possibilities are almost endless:
Salad with slices of young Chioggia beets
A beautiful salad with Chioggia beets. Photo: Silvia Hietbrink

Vitamins and minerals in Chioggia 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 to lower blood pressure.

Bonus healthy snack? The leaves. They're full of carotene and minerals.
Chioggia beets are super healthy
The whole plant is super healthy

The last levels

De volgende levels

Keep harvesting until your beet patch is empty.

Beets are very resistant to cold, so you can leave them for a long time in the fall. A little frost makes the beets even sweeter 🙂

The last level: empty the square patch in your garden box or your MM-Mini and prepare it for the next round of sowing.

So: are you ready to grow Chioggia beets yourself?

Good idea 😉  They 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 Chioggia seeds here or get started with a complete starter kit: