I thought you might like to see how my beet seedlings are doing. I had terrible results last year, planted several rows and I think I had 3 or 4 beet plants and nothing more. I'm puzzled by this because the instructions say to plant the seed as early as the soil can be worked and yet cold soil and freezing nights seems to stall germination. I think why I had the utter failure last spring was because I gave up too soon, and quit watering. This year, hope sprang eternal, and I have been somewhat rewarded.

Some of what you see here are little corn plants, which I planted where I thought was "between the beet rows" but I didn't quite hit it on the mark every time. The past couple of days I've been working on getting some of the bindweed and henbit out from between the rows so I can see what I have. I wasn't quite finished when I took this picture but I was almost there. What you see growing at the base of the stockwire garden arch is beans.

So my first words of "beet advice" are:

1. Don't bother planting the seed before last frost date. It doesn't seem to offer any advantage.

2. If you soak your seed overnight before you plant it, it will speed up germination.

3. Once you've planted the seed, don't abandon watering too soon.

Lately, there have been some people trying different methods when growing beets. There are folks who are planting the seed inside. Here's a youtube about "shattering" a cube of soil that has several beet plants growing in it:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9_YBXo8c0ew

Not sure what that really accomplishes. I really feel like the less you disturb the soil when you transplant,
the better the transplant will do but I've never tested out that
shattering thing. Seems like it would give the plant a little shock. Here's another, more meaningful, Youtube done by Gary Pilarcik of "The Rusted Garden". I've watched Gary's garden videos before and I think he knows his stuff.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qJjH05Ily04

Gary is right about how beet seeds are pods that contain more than one seed. Actual beet seeds are dark brown, tiny, and teardrop shaped. You can, in fact, tear that wrinkled pod apart to release the seeds, but it's fiddley to do that, just so you know.

Gary starts his beet seed in peat plugs and then transplants them out after they're up and doing well. That's a LOT of transplanting, to my mind. But we all have to do what feels right and reasonable for our own situation.

This year, I think I'll experiment with transplantation, only on the back end, sort of. What I mean by this is, I'm going to try to "tease" out the thinnings so they'll come out with enough root that I can try to move them to a vacant growing spot. I don't know if this'll work out or not. Just another wild-hair idea on my part.

Of course once we've harvested something, we have to get it put up for future eating. Even when I leave the beet tops on, or what is deemed to be enough to prevent bleeding of that beautiful beet color, I always have a problem. This year, assuming all goes well and I get a crop, I think I'll cut off the leaves and prepare them for the freezer as greens, and roast the well-scrubbed beets in cake pans with foil over to protect the skins from drying out. After they're cooked and cooled, then I can peel them, and maybe they won't bleed quite so badly. That's the plan, anyway.

I'm not all that crazy about beet greens, I find I like them better when they have pieces of beet included, and some butter, salt, a dash of vinegar, and maybe some caraway seed or some little tender fronds from the fennel plant. Unfortunately, the fennel seed I have planted is yet to come up. *Sigh*. And I find I do like beet greens (with beet pieces) seasoned this way and served as a side to a bowl of great northern beans. But that's just me.

I just LOVE pickled beets. I think it's a German thing, do you agree, Jacob? But I can't have all that sugar. So I'm thinking I might freeze them after they've been roasted and maybe sliced or cubed. Oh, and if you want to have uniform beet slices, or cubes, watch the garage sales for one of those old Veg-O-Matics. Does the best job, ever. Amazon still sells them, here:

https://www.amazon.com/Ronco-FS100200GEN-Veg-O-Matic-Food-Chopper/dp/B000HDJN9E

That's about all I can think of about beets for now.