Beets are one of the most healthy and vitamin-rich vegetables in the country. Everything about beets is edible, including the leaves. It goes in the salad, as a side dish, and in borscht. This popular root vegetable is good because it can be eaten both raw and boiled. And what’s important is that it’s tasty and appetizing in any size, not to mention a cocktail of a colossal amount of healthy ingredients.

Even a novice summer resident can grow this wonderful plant on his own plot without much hassle, especially if he listens to proven tips and recommendations on choosing a place for planting, preparing a bed and the intricacies of sowing beet seeds in open ground(or previously for seedlings).

According to the ripening period, beets can be divided into the following varieties (from the first shoots to the moment of harvesting):

• early-medium early (80-110 days);
• mid-season (110-130 days);
• late ripening (130-145 days).

The most popular varieties of early or early ripening beets include the following: Early Vodan, Carillon, Red Ball, Mona, Egyptian and Gribovskaya Ploskaya, Action, Nastenka.

• Mid-season varieties are represented by the following: Bordeaux-237, Sonata, Crimson Ball, Valya, Detroit and Cold-resistant 19.

• Among the late-ripening varieties, the following are common: Salad, Matrona and Cylinder.

Interesting! Beet varieties often differ in that some grow on the surface, while other root crops “sit” exclusively in the ground. So, for clay soils The first ones (which come to the surface) are better suited.

When to sow beet seeds in open ground in spring: optimal timing

Beets are considered a relatively heat-loving vegetable, so they should be planted when the ground temperature warms up to +8 and the air temperature to +10..+12 degrees.

Interesting! The popular reference point for sowing beets is the moment when small leaves the size of a penny will appear on the birch tree.

Planting dates depending on region and variety

Thus, the timing of sowing beets varies depending on the climatic conditions of your place of residence.

For example, in the South (Krasnodar, Kuban), root crops can be sown in the second half of March-April. But in Middle lane(Moscow region) the suitable time for planting beets in open ground is in early to mid-May, in Siberia and the Urals - in the second half of May.

However, hurry up early boarding beets are not worth it - it’s better to wait for the end of the return spring frosts and only then start sowing seeds.

By the way! Variety does not affect planting time. Early varieties They don’t plant earlier, just as late ones don’t plant later. It just doesn't make sense.

According to the lunar calendar in 2020

If you want to choose specific date for planting root crops, then he will always come to your aid moon calendar.

So, most favorable days for sowing beets for seedlings or in open ground according to the lunar calendar in 2020 are:

• in April – 5-7, 9-15, 17-22, 27-30;
• in May - 2-6, 9, 11, 12, 20-22, 29-31;
• in June - 7-9, 11-14.

If we turn to the lunar calendar, then it is worth knowing that it is even more important not to plant vegetables on unfavorable dates, and this is in 2020 (Full Moon and New Moon days, as well as the period when the Moon is in Aquarius, because this is a barren and dry sign - italicized):

• in April - 8, 15-17 , 23;
• in May - 7, 13-14 , 22;
• in June - 5, 9-11 , 21.

According to lunar calendar, from the magazine “1000 tips for a summer resident.”

How to plant beets in open ground: sowing rules

Preparing seeds for planting

You can always plant beets with dry seeds, but to improve germination, it is advisable to pre-soak and germinate them.

You can germinate beet seeds before planting in different ways:

When using any method of seed germination, the essence is approximately as follows: the seeds are placed on a damp surface, the container with which is placed in a warm place where the temperature fluctuates around +20-22 degrees, and make sure that the seeds do not dry out, periodically adding water to the capacity.

Benefits of germinating beet seeds:

• You can immediately see which seeds have sprouted and which have not. This makes it possible to achieve better germination in open ground.
• When planting with germinated seeds, seedlings appear much faster, usually within 4-6 days.

Bed and soil

Beets grow well in sunlit beds, so they should be planted where there is frequent sun.

You can even plant the root vegetable close to trees on the south side, where the sun will nourish the vegetable for at least half a day.

Advice! If your dacha is located in a lowland and the places are relatively swampy, then it is better to plant beets (and not only them). on high beds. Many gardeners, in principle, love and successfully grow vegetables in such beds.

Excellent precursors for planting beets are legumes, onions, potatoes, tomatoes and cucumbers. But cabbage is not a very good predecessor; it is not recommended to sow the root crop after it.

It is advisable to prepare the soil for growing root crops in advance, even in the fall. Although it’s okay if you start preparing it right in the spring, shortly before planting.

Beets, like all other root vegetables, need very good and loose soil, and in clayey conditions it is simply difficult for them to grow. It costs about a spade's length to dig up the soil (20-25 cm).

If you have too much sandy ground, then you can improve its composition by adding quality humus or compost (3-4 kg per 1 square meter of bed) by adding a couple of tablespoons of superphosphate (30-40 grams), and then thoroughly digging and mixing everything.

If your soil is too heavy (clayey), then in addition to humus or compost and superphosphate, you should add peat and just a little sand to the soil.

Beets do not like acidic soils, so if your soil is highly acidic, you should deacidify it in the fall by adding lime or.

If you add it to the soil in advance, this will also have a very good effect on the vegetable. You can also do this during planting and subsequent fertilizing.

Note! You cannot add fresh manure to the soil for beet beds, even in the fall, especially in the spring. This root vegetable loves to accumulate nitrates, which we absolutely do not need.

Sowing in the garden

Many experienced vegetable growers recommend making furrows along the edge of the bed. With this planting, the root crops will grow large, and the bed itself will be beautiful. Good neighbors for beets there may be onions, dill, tomatoes, cabbage and lettuce.

By the way! There is even a saying: “Beets love to rub against the housewife’s hem.”

Step-by-step instructions for planting beet seeds in open ground in spring:

1. Prepare the seeds: soak and germinate.
2. Choose a place for the bed and make grooves 2-3 cm deep.
3. It is good to shed the grooves with water.
4. Spread the seeds. Seeds should be planted at a distance of about 3-4 centimeters from each other. In the row spacing - at a distance of 20-30 centimeters.
5. This root vegetable loves it very much, so it is recommended to sprinkle a little of it immediately after sowing.
6. Then fill the grooves with earth and sprinkle a little ash again.
7. Mulch with sawdust (lightly, no need to make a thick layer).
8. Cover with film to prevent return frosts and for a greenhouse effect. As soon as the shoots appear, the film can be removed.

Video: sowing beets with sprouted seeds

Sowing beet seeds for seedlings

If you want to get more early harvest, then you can plant beet seeds for seedlings. The main specificity of sowing is that the planting capacity must be high enough, because we are planting root crops.

By the way! Beets grown through seedlings will not require thinning in the future for obvious reasons.

The agricultural technology for growing beets through seedlings is quite simple: watering is required as the soil dries, as well as a bright place. When the seedlings have 2-3 true leaves, the small root crop can be planted in open ground.

On a note! If you want to tinker a little and try to get an earlier harvest, then sow beets as seedlings. If not, then it grows well without seedlings.

Further care of beets after planting

Advice! About, how to care for beets in open ground to grow sweet root vegetables, read

If you care about your future health and are “hooked” on beets, then rest assured that you are quite capable of growing a harvest of juicy and large root vegetables. Of course, first of all, for this it is necessary to initially plant beets correctly in the spring.

Video: when and how to sow beet seeds in open ground

In contact with

Beetroot is a crop that every gardener tries to plant on his plot in order to diversify the assortment of vegetables. Growing root vegetables in open ground has its secrets. And one of them is beet thinning.

Features of beets

When planting beets in the ground, inexperienced gardeners are always surprised. You plant the seeds at a distance from each other, but after germination you still have to thin out the overgrown bed. This is one of the features of beets. Its fruits, which are correctly called nuts, contain from 2 to 6 seeds. When these seeds germinate, they form several sprouts in one place, which have to be removed.

This is a mandatory procedure, since cramped conditions and lack of sun will lead to the formation of ugly, deformed root crops that will never gain the desired weight and condition.

Landing

Before planting, dense beet seeds must be soaked in various biostimulants to improve the germination rate.

For planting, prepare the bed by fertilizing it with humus. Young plants are very sensitive to a lack of nitrogen in the soil, so square meter Up to two buckets of humus are added to the soil.

The crop is considered resistant to low temperatures, but grows and develops better at temperatures above plus 20. Therefore, seeds are planted on the site in early May, when the threat of return frosts has passed, and the soil is evenly warming up day after day. Planting of seedlings can be done from mid to late May. As the growth progresses, the beets are fed.

How to thin beets

After plant germination, during the period when the first pair of true leaves appears on them, beets are thinned in open ground for the first time.

1. The beet bed is watered heavily.
2. The weakest and smallest ones are removed from a bunch of sprouted plants, leaving one.
3. The distance between plants is left from 7 to 10 centimeters.
4. After thinning the bed, I rake up the soil under the beets so that a small ridge is formed. This will help form the roots and protect the plant’s exposed root collar.

After the procedure, many small plants remain, which can be used as seedlings. The survival rate of such plants is up to 80%, so it is worth either preparing a bed for them in advance or planting them between companion plants.

Second procedure

It is produced when the beets have gained leaf mass up to 4-5 leaves. This is done in order to increase the distance between root crops to the maximum and give the opportunity to develop. This procedure is necessary if you need large beets or during the first thinning you left a distance of 3-4 centimeters between the plants.

To properly thin out beets, follow the rule: pull out all diseased and deformed plants, as well as very large ones. Leave the same, medium size.

Plants after the second thinning are not suitable for seedlings.

Replanting beets during thinning

After the first thinning, many small plants remain that are a pity to throw away and can be used as seedlings. These seedlings take root well. According to observations, its root crops are almost always larger than those planted with seeds in a permanent place.

The resulting seedlings need to be sorted - throw out all the smallest and stunted sprouts. The strongest plants can be planted between the rows of carrots or onions, if there is enough space, or in a previously prepared separate bed. Experienced gardeners and gardeners prepare such a bed in advance, before how to thin beets for the first time. The survival rate of such seedlings is 80%.

For planting, humus is added to the ground at the rate of 2 buckets per square meter of land.

Seedlings are planted at a distance of 10 centimeters from each other so that subsequently growing plants do not interfere with each other’s development. Small depressions up to 5 centimeters deep are made in the ground, watered and plants are planted in them. Beets are planted in a row, the distance between rows is 20-25 centimeters. To improve the survival rate of seedlings, the procedure is carried out in the evening or on a cloudy day.

Remember: beets left over from the first thinning are suitable for seedlings; the plants are small enough and will take root well. Plants after the second thinning are not suitable for seedlings.

How to plant beets without thinning

You don’t have to thin out beets if you plant ready-made seedlings, sprouted in plastic cups, into the beds. The thinning procedure can be avoided if ready-made seedlings germinated in plastic cups are planted in open ground. For this purpose in plastic cups or another container, preferably without a bottom, so as not to injure the seedlings when planting beets in open ground, add a mixture of 1 part leaf soil and 2 parts humus.

Beet seeds are pre-soaked in a stimulant solution for several hours or in water for a day. Then they are planted in cups with soil, after moistening it.

Plant in open ground when the temperature becomes steadily positive, since with prolonged low temperatures during planting, beets are capable of forming a peduncle to the detriment of the root crop.

The second option is to grow single-seeded beet varieties. Its nut contains only one seed, so when planted, it will produce only one sprout. The seedlings of such varieties are no different from ordinary ones, except that you do not have to spend time on thinning.

The most famous varieties are Bordeaux single-seeded, Virovskaya single-seeded, Russian single-seeded, Odnorostkovaya, Belorusskaya single-seeded, Lgovskaya, North Caucasian.

For centuries, table beets have been beneficial to our health, decorating tables on weekdays and holidays. During this time, people and scientists managed to notice what the root vegetable likes and doesn’t like, what growing conditions would be best for it. Acidic soils fall into the "dislike" category, so if you're unsure of your area's pH level, test it with pH paper. For beets, soil that is neutral or close to neutral in acidity is considered normal.

At high level It is better not to plant pH beets without preliminary measures to reduce acidity - the harvest will not be the same. The point is that Calcified salts or alkaline minerals, when excessively concentrated in the soil, interfere with the absorption of nutrients by plants. The simplest and affordable way reduce acidity - sprinkle the bed with powdered lime in the fall and embed it in the top layer.

Depending on the neglect of your site, you should add lime in the following ratio: on slightly acidic sites per one hundred square meters you need 25-35 kg of fluff, on acidic soils we add 10-15 kg to the previous number, and on acidified soils, the pH level of which has dropped to 4 -5 pH, at a norm of 6-7 pH, up to 75 kg per 1 hundred square meters should be applied. If you applied manure to the garden bed, then you can plant beets only on next year, since it absorbs nitrates and becomes poisonous, so always leave a designated area for root vegetables if you decide to cover the entire garden with fertilizers.

How to properly plant beets in spring - predecessors

Planting beets in the spring should occur no earlier than when the spring sun warms the soil to 4-5 °C. At lower temperatures, the seeds will begin to send out flower shoots more intensively, and we do not need this if we want to get more root vegetables. Like cucumber seeds, beet seeds are also recommended to be soaked in a solution for a day wood ash or stimulant. Before planting, the seeds should be washed and dried, wrapped in a slightly damp thick cloth.

For beets, cucumbers, legumes and potatoes are considered good predecessors, but it is not recommended to plant beets after cabbage, so take it seriously to select only successful predecessors every year. The beet bed must be well lit if you want well-colored root vegetables. The depth of sowing seeds is about 3-4 cm. If the spring wind has managed to dry the soil to such a depth, then the furrow must first be watered, and when the moisture is absorbed, you can sow the seeds, keeping a distance of at least 15 cm between the rows.

Planting beets in spring - how to properly break through the seedlings?

Each beet seed is a combination of several seeds, so this plant is characterized by excessive density of seedlings. To avoid deformation of root crops, thinning them should begin as early as possible. The first thinning should be done at the stage of the appearance of two true leaves, maintaining a distance between shoots of 2-3 cm. When the plant has 4-5 leaves, you should walk around the bed again, leaving a distance of 7-8 cm between the future harvest.

As a result, you should have 15-20 cm between plants, because root crops can be more than 10 cm in diameter.

Do not delay with weeding and loosening. During the season, beets should be fed at least twice with fertilizers without nitrates. When it's time to harvest, you will rejoice at every beautiful beet! It should be dug up before the first frost. Cleared of soil, with the tops cut off (the petiole should be no more than 1 cm), sort the root vegetables, leaving for storage root vegetables at least 7 cm in diameter. Those that are smaller, eat as needed. After drying the beets in the shade, place them in boxes, sprinkled with sand, sawdust or dry peat. It is best to store it in the cellar until spring.

To grow table beets that are sweet and healthy and suitable for long-term storage, you need to know the intricacies of agricultural technology for this vegetable. Anyone who masters this science is guaranteed a varied vitamin menu throughout the winter.

Beets are unpretentious and ready to grow in all latitudes, with the exception of permafrost. You can opt for regionalized local varieties or experiment with new hybrids with increased hardiness.

The ripening period of beets depends on the variety and ranges from 80 to 130 days. You can adjust the ripening time by planting beets under a greenhouse or seedlings, first germinating the seeds.

The most popular varieties suitable for growing in any climatic conditions:

Valenta– an early ripening variety with sweet, dark red flesh, cold-resistant, shelf-stable, disease-resistant.

Ataman– medium late variety, cylindrical fruits weighing 300 g, burgundy, sweet with homogeneous pulp, very well stored.

Cylinder– a medium-late variety with an elongated bright red fruit, the weight of which reaches 500 g, strong immunity and good keeping quality.

Podzimnyaya– a mid-early cold-resistant variety, resistant to most diseases, round fruits weighing 200 – 400 g with burgundy pulp.

Red hero– mid-early high-yielding variety, cylindrical dark red fruits with thin skin and uniform pulp weighing 200–550 g.

Red ice– mid-early variety, the fruits are bright red, with structured pulp, light weight - 200–300 g, well stored.

Bicores– mid-season, high-yielding variety, bright red fruits weighing 200-350 g, lightweight.

If you plan to eat beets from your garden all year round, then you need to plant both early and late varieties beets.

Landing dates

More often, beets are planted in the spring, when the air warms up to 15-18 C. You can do this a little earlier, in April by planting ungerminated seeds under a greenhouse.

If the spring is too cold, you can move the planting date to a later time, choosing beets early date maturation.

Winter beets are sown with dry seeds before the onset of frost. Only specially oriented varieties are selected for this purpose. The crop areas are covered. They start to grow in early spring and provide summer harvest beets. Summer-ripened root crops cannot be stored for long periods of time.

Preparing the soil for beets

The soil is dug up in the fall after careful harvesting of the previous harvest. Organic components (compost or manure) are applied as deeply as possible - 30-35 centimeters. It is possible to organize something similar warm bed, but with a thin layer of organic matter so that it has time to decompose by the time the beet root grows to it.

The acidity of the earth is reduced by scattering dolomite flour, ground eggshells or wood ash.

It is better to apply mineral additives - superphosphate and potassium sulfate - in the fall so that they have time to dissolve in the soil. They are scattered dry over the bed before digging at a rate of no more than 0.3 kg. per square meter of land.

The root crop develops better in loose soil. In the spring, it is good to dig up the bed again and mulch it with peat or rotted sawdust.

Site selection, crop rotation

Rules for choosing a place for beets:

1. beets love space; the sparser the root crops are planted from each other, the more space they have for growing rounded barrels;
2. if there is no need for large plantations of this root crop, beets can be planted in a border method next to potatoes, cucumbers, beans, next to greens or onions;
3. beets need frequent irrigation, but stagnation of water will lead to rotting, which means the bed must be laid out next to the watering source in a well-drained area;
4. Beets are not planted twice in a row in the same place; crop rotation is observed very carefully;
5. the preceding plants for this vegetable are onions, garlic, potatoes, tomatoes, eggplants, carrots, zucchini;
6. It is undesirable to plant beets after cabbage and for the second year in a row in one place.

If you have to displace any crops in the garden by planting them on poor soil, then you can safely do this with beets. Its growth can be ensured by good loosening of the soil, timely watering and fertilizer.

Seed preparation

Beet seeds before planting:

• check for germination - pour into a glass of salted water, mix and remove any that float;
• hardened by alternation hot water and cold, withstanding in every temperature conditions for several hours;
• disinfected by keeping for 12 hours in a weak solution of potassium permanganate;
• stimulated by soaking in a growth stimulator.
• germinate if the seeds are prepared for growing beet seedlings.

For pre-winter planting, you need to limit yourself only to checking for germination and disinfection - excessively swollen seeds can germinate in the winter and die.

Planting beets in open ground

Beet seeds are large compared to most garden crops. Sowing will not be difficult.

Sow beets in furrows 3-5 centimeters deep with a distance of 5 centimeters from each other and 20 centimeters between rows.

Winter crops are buried 10 centimeters so that the seeds do not die.

When planting beets in open ground as seedlings, the interval is set to at least 20 centimeters.

Beet care

The process of growing beets includes watering, fertilizing, loosening and mandatory thinning.

Beets do not require close attention at all if they grow in good soil and with proper watering. But if the plant lacks nutrition, it will have a bad effect on taste or lead to diseases.

1. Phomosis of beet fruits and leaves develops with a lack of boron and is expressed in the appearance of lightened spots on the foliage; it is also fraught with curvature and the appearance of cavities in the root crop.
2. Cercospora blight is caused by excessive moisture in the beds.
3. Excess nitrogen in the soil will cause the beets to taste bitter and earthy.

Watering and fertilizing

After germination, beets need to be watered frequently - once every two to three days, alternating watering with shallow loosening so as not to damage the roots. There is no need to hill this root crop. But it is good to form a hog between the rows of beets, along which water will flow. In case of soil erosion, top up with thin layer humus.

Loosening can be replaced by mulching. A layer of crushed dried grass placed between the rows will help conserve moisture.

A one-time application of mineral fertilizers before planting is sufficient for beets. It makes sense to carry out additional fertilizing only if the plants are noticeably stunted in growth.

Periodic watering of beets with diluted herbal infusions or yeast fertilizers is suitable as preventive fertilizing.

Two or three times a season you can water the beets with salted water at the rate of one tablespoon per 10 liters of water. Or use complex fertilizers according to the instructions, for example, Makbor.

Root crops accumulate nitrates more actively than other crops. When growing beets, it is better to opt for natural fertilizers.

Optimal planting density

Important point in caring for beets - thinning. It is carried out in several stages so that the owner has the opportunity to evaluate the growing roots and select the best of them. Before each thinning, it is necessary to fill the beets well.

When the first pair of leaves appears, the weakest plants are removed. In the future, when thinning, diseased specimens are removed; good roots that are too thick can be transplanted to a new place or used for food as greens.

From the initial distance between plants of 5 centimeters, you eventually need to reach an interval of 15-20 centimeters.

Harvest and storage

Beets are harvested in the fall before the onset of cold weather, when the leaves on the plant wither. When harvesting, you must act carefully, using a shovel to pry up large layers of soil and remove the root crops one at a time.

The soil is carefully shaken off the fruit, and it is better not to cut off the remaining corolla of leaves - just remove the wilted stems.

Store medium-sized root vegetables with intact skin in a dry room at a temperature of 2 to 5 C.

Beet diseases and pests

The main pests of any root crops are moles, mole crickets and rodents. Beet flea beetles, wireworms and slugs are also dangerous. In addition, plants are affected by various rots and nematodes.

To combat these troubles, one must first of all maintain hygiene. personal plot– high-quality cleaning, careful deep digging and preventive treatment of plantings with natural disinfectants – wood ash, tobacco dust, hot pepper powder.

These root vegetables are famous for their unpretentiousness and consistency. They are well stored in basements and vegetable pits, saving useful material until spring. Be sure to find a place on your plot for beets.

You can’t do without beets when preparing borscht, “shuba” and “vinaigrette” salads. That’s why there are beds with this not the most popular, but necessary crop on almost every farm. If you don't have it behind you many years of experience growing this root vegetable, but you are planning to do it, you have come to the right place. Today we'll talk about how to plant beets with seeds in open ground.

Preparing an area of ​​open ground for planting beets

If you don’t want to bother with growing beet seedlings, you can safely plant the seeds directly in open ground. By the way, this is exactly what most summer residents do. However, it would be wrong to arrange beds on any free piece of land. The place for beets must meet two basic requirements:

1. Free access to sunlight. Do not plant beets near trees, bushes, sunflowers, corn - anything that can cast a shadow on them.

2. Good drainage. You should not plant beets in places where moisture stagnates. If there is no other place, try to correct poor drainage by adding sand, sawdust or compost to the soil. If the site is in a lowland, correct the situation by pouring earth onto it at higher elevations.

Select a well-lit, well-drained area of ​​open ground

The next thing to consider when selecting a site for planting beets is crop rotation. It can only be planted in its original place after 4 years. It also doesn't grow well after cabbage. Good predecessors beets are considered cucumbers, zucchini, pumpkin, potatoes and greens. Feel free to plant this crop in the spring in the place where green manure grew.

The area of ​​open ground chosen for planting beets must be properly prepared. In the fall, dig it up with the addition of organic fertilizer(with the exception of fresh manure). In spring, loosen the soil and add mineral fertilizers. Ammonium nitrate, superphosphate and potassium chloride are suitable.

Beets love fertilized soil

Planting beets in open ground on time and correctly

For quick consumption, beets are planted in April or May, when the ground warms up to 10ºС, and for winter storage- in the first half of June. Beets can be planted in open ground in the fall, but only before the first frost - in October.

If you want to improve seed germination, do not skip the preparatory activities. Soak them in a growth stimulator solution, strictly following the instructions. A solution prepared from 1 liter is suitable for this purpose. warm water and 1 tbsp. l. wood ash. The seeds should be kept in it for 24 hours.

The next stage is seed swelling. They should be placed between layers of wet cloth, cotton wool or napkins for three days. Maintain the same humidity all this time. During this time planting material activates its internal forces and will become fully suitable for landing.

Swollen seeds germinate better

If you want the rows of beets to be even, stick sticks at the two extreme points of each row and stretch a thread between them. It will serve as a ruler under which you will make even furrows. Deepen them by 2-3 cm. Suitable furrows can be made using a long board.

Furrow depth - 3-4 cm

Between adjacent rows maintain a distance of 40-45 cm. The places where the beet seed will fall must be thoroughly watered. The beet seeds are quite large, so you can easily place them in the groove at a distance of 10 cm from each other. By planting them more often, you will create the need for subsequent thinning of young shoots.

Often sown seeds will need to be thinned out

Now you know exactly how to plant beets with seeds in open ground. You will definitely cope with this simple task. You can easily find information on how to care for beets from planting to harvest. Even those who have been farming for the first year can grow this crop.

Watch a useful video: rules for planting beets in open ground