How to grow Beets in Pots or Containers during the growing season.

Hi Gardening Friends

You didn't think it was possible but you can grow Beets from seed in containers doing the Spring, Summer and Fall months of the year.

Common Name: Beets

Botanical Name: Beta vulgaris

Avg. seeds/lb. = 17,000-44,00.

Pkt = approx 450 seeds.

Nutritional Facts: Beets contain good amounts of antioxidants and are a good source for vitamin C and calium. The nutritious tops are richer in iron and minerals than spinach, and a good source for vitamin A,C, and calcium.

Culture Beets prefer a well-drained sandy loam with a pH range of 6,4 to 6,8 Add hydrated lime and boron to your fertilizer for quick growth and best quality.

Well if you want to start your plants early indoors you can I have started beets in containers or seed flats.
I have started Beets in my Greenhouse. By starting beets early in February sowing the seed in seed flats in germination mix and giving them bottom heat.. Here is how you do that by using as always a clean sterilized empty seed flat in starting seeds in the Greenhouse. Fill your flat half full with germination mix and soak the flat and let set on the propagating bench in the greenhouse and wait until the flat drains. Then take the flat and start to sow the beet seed by broadcasting the seed very evenly on the flat with the germination mixture in there. Don't cover the seed then put the flat back on the propagation bench. After that take the water hose and mist the flat thoroughly. Keep the flat evenly moist until the beet seeds germinates in about 14 to 21 days. When the seedling get their true leaves that is leaves that look like regular beets leaves. You can then water the seedling flat completely and let drain.Then take and start to transplant the seedling into larger containers 1 to 2 inches tall. The size of the container 3 gallon and up depends on the number of plants you will plant in the container. In the pots you should plant them 3 to 4 inches apart. After you do that mist the pots and put them in a shady area until the beets have take whole. Then you can put the containers anywhere you would like to grow beets. Fertilize them every week with a liquid water soluble Fertilizer and keep them water during the entire growing season. Dont let them dry out. Keep evenly moist.

What you need to grow Beets in pots or containers? First of all what you need at lease a 3 gallon container or larger to grow the beets in. Also you need a good growing medium to start the beets in. Like Pro Mix or Metro Mix potting soil. Now you take your pot and fill them up to just below the rind of the container. Now you can sow the beets seeds. Make sure you sow the seeds evenly so that you don't get them to thick.Because if the beets are sown to thick you will have to thin them out after they come up. After you sow the beets you can water the entire container with a misting system type hose. Water the pots completely and set the pots in the shade until they start to come up. Beets grow best in cool weather. Here are some of the beets that you can grow in pots.

OPEN POLLINATED BEETS.

Bull's Blood Beets
Deep cabernet leaves even at the seedling stage make Bull's Blood a striking, easy to grow addition to spring and fall salad mix. Plant extra for round red beets that delevop a pink and red striped zoned interior.

Detroit Dark Red Beets (medium top) 63 Days haves short tops. They are excellent all purpose beets. As the "Short Top" version of this popular beet is no longer available, so seed companies are now offering the medium version of this variety. Tops are strong and tinged with red, especially in cool weather. A good one for late sowing and winter storage.

Touchstone Gold 55 Days Touchstone Gold is an outstanding golden beet that produces uniformly round roots with smooth, bright orange skin and a vivid golden interior. The deep green tops are appealing for bunching, and the golden interior retains its color when cooked. Compared to other golden beets. Touchstone Gold offer better germ, more uniformly round roots,much smoother shoulders, and less zoning.

Chioggia Guardsmark Organic 60 Days Chioggia beets have become local market favorite for their distinctive candy-striped interiors zoning this refined strain produces beautiful, consistently round slighly flattened roots with the classic pink-and-white bullseye interior. The flesh is firm but not fibrous, and the glossy bright green leaves are very firmly attached. Improved unifornity means your harvest more marketable roots,

Long Season (Pink stem) 80 Days This strain of this very popular winter keeper type beet produces roots that are not quite as large as the Lutz strain. The glossy green tops have deep-pink veins and the stems are deep-pink striped with green. The delicious beets have a tender flesh that is very sweet and will store well for several months after harvest.

Long Season (Lutz) 80 Days
The original strain. Long Season beets grow very large, but no matter how big they get, they offer extraordinary tenderness and sweetness. Whether the beets are young or old, small or large, they remain tender all summer and fall and keep in fine condition all winter. too Long Season grows slowly and is rough on the surface but has an unmatched old time flavor.

Hybrid Beets

Eagle F1 50 Days
This attractive hybrid beet is early to mature and offers very dark red root color. Its very smooth,uniformly round roots have small crowns and strongly attrached tops.Eagle's interior gets high rating for outstanding flavor,very fine texture, and deep red color that is free of zoning.The dark green,red-veined tops grow approximately 14-16 inches tall and are attractive when bunched. Eagle has shown good heat tolerance.

Kestrel F1 53 Days
Harvest for baby and mature beets. Kestrel is a duel purpose variety that shapes up early into a smooth, globe shaped, dark red root that can be harvested early for baby beets or left in the field to mature to full sun. The roots have refined tap roots, small crowns and 12-13 inches semi-glossy, bright green tops. Use this variety for a early bunching variety. Intermediate resistance to downy mildew,powdery mildew bolting, cercospora and rhizoctonia.

Red Ace F1 54 Days
A hybrid version of Detroit Short Top, Red Ace resists zoning and bolting in the heat and has intermediate resistance to cercospora leaf spot. Red Ace offers the fine eating quality of Detriot, plus uniformnity from emergence to harvest and a 7-10 day shorter crop time. Smooth deep round roots have short, erect, bright green tops for supermarkets or farm market sales. Grow in place of Warrior, which is no longer available.

Merlin F1 55 Days
Exceptional sweetness. Merlin is a hybrid beet that has an exceptional eating quality and very attractive dark green. glossy tops. Its uniform, round roots have a refined top root and dark red interior color that tolerates zoning during drought and adverse weather. The tall 15-17 inches top hold their dark green color throughout thec season and lend themselves well to the fresh bunched beet market. Merlin receives high ratings for sugar content, and it also has intermediate resistance to downy mildew and cercospora.

Here is Seed Companies that carry Beets Seeds.

Stokes Seeds Inc.

P.O. Box 548

BUFFALO N.Y. 14240-0548

Telephone: 1-800-263-7233.

www.stokeseeds.com or email stokes@stokesseeds.com

Harris Seeds

355 Paul Road

P.O. Box 24966

Rochester, NY 14624-0966

Telephone: 1-800-544-7938

www.harrisseeds.com

Johnny Selected Seeds

955 Benton Avenue

Winslow, ME 04901

Telephone No. (877) 564-6697

www.johnnyseeds.com

I hope you try all of these beets varieties before you grow any other ones. I would like you try to grow beets from seeds in pots or containers. Let me know if the above article helped you in being successful in growing beets in containers or pots? And I hope you let me know how you did in growing beets from seeds in containers.

Happy Gardening

Gardener Den