Tips for growing Beetroot

• Sowing - beetroot likes a fairly warm soil to ensure germination, so I generally don't sow before April.   I should sow a number of short rows at 4 week intervals to get a plentiful supply of the smaller sweeter beet; but I do no more than two sowings.   However, sowing a few different varieties spaces the crop enough to avoid a glut.   A shallow drill in a well raked tilth is all they need.   Sow them thinly (5-6 inches apart) and cover over.
• Most beetroot seeds are in fact clusters of seeds, so they will produce little clusters of plants.   Thin them out to a single plant for each seed spot when they are about an inch high.
• I will carry on thinning progressively over the season - once I have some golf-ball sized roots to use in the kitchen.
• They need an even supply of water - too little and they get woody, too much and they may split.   Water enough to make sure the soil doesn't dry out.
• Once they reach cricket ball size, I lift them for the freezer (boiled and peeled, then open frozen).   The later sowings are lifted in October.
• The only problem I've had with beetroot is the flea beetle, which eats so many holes in the leaves that I'm never tempted to use them in the kitchen.

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Storing and Uses

• I have popped perfect beetroot, leaves cut off about 2 inches away from the root, into a box of sand, and hidden them in a dark cool cupboard, where they can stay in good condition until February.   But I boil, peel and freeze most of the crop.
• Wash them lightly in cold water, and remove the leaves at least two inches from the root.   Don't remove anything else - a broken/pierced skin will allow the colour to bleed out.   Only peel them after they've been cooked and drained - this will take 30-45 minutes depending on their size.   Use them fresh in salads, hot as a vegetable; or let them cool and pickle them in vinegar; or freeze them for use later.
• Bake them, washed but unpeeled, like a potato - very nice!
• A friend, Elsie, gave me this recipe - peel and grate raw beetroot (2 parts), and mix in some grated apple (1 part); a simple (yes, it is that simple!) salad, where sweetness and earthiness complement each other deliciously.
• Best of all for a chill autumn evening, fry an onion or a leek; add a peeled diced potato, and several diced boiled beetroot; add enough water or vegetable stock to cover, and simmer until the vegetables are well cooked.   A quick whizz in the liquidizer, and you will have a richly coloured, surprisingly delicate-flavoured yet heartily warming soup.
  
  Worth serving for its colour alone - my kids have competitions to see who can drizzle the finest pattern on their soup bowl with yoghourt or soured cream.   You should perhaps warn them that the colour will be passing through them next morning!

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