How to grow beets in the open field: agricultural and gardeners tips

One of the most popular root vegetables is considered to be beets. It is an easy-to-care culture, which can grow even a novice gardener.

In comparison with other types of vegetables, the cultivation of beets does not cause any trouble, but this does not mean that you can simply plant the seeds in the ground and get a bountiful harvest.

Beets can reach maturity in the period from 80 to 130 days, depending on this produce early, middle and late ripening varieties. Description, as a rule, is on the package with seeds.

The most popular varieties.

• Valenta has an early term of maturation, resistant to frost and the most common crop pests. The flesh is dark red, sweet and juicy.
• "Ataman" - mid-season, has a very good keeping quality. The fruits are quite large, weighing up to 300 g, the shape is cylindrical. The flesh is sweet, homogeneous.
• "Cylinder" - medium late, has good immunity to diseases and pests and resistance to long-term storage. Fruits are elongated, bright red color, the weight of each reaches 500 g.
• "Podzimnyaya" characterized by early-medium achievement of technical ripeness. Maroon fruits, rounded shape, weight varies from 200 to 400 g.
• "Red hero" different early-average yield. Root crops are dark red and uniform. The form is cylindrical. Mass - from 250 to 500 g.
• "Red Ice" resistant to cold temperatures, has an early-average period of ripening. Fruits are small, weight does not exceed 300 g. They have a rich taste and good keeping quality.

Beets prefer open sunny areas, so it is best to plant it where the sun shines most of the day. However, for this culture, select areas located on the south side of the trees, thus saving space, but the light does not suffer. If the summer cottage is located in a lowland or relatively wetland lands, then it is better to plant beets on specially prepared inflated beds.

Like any other culture, beets require compliance with the rules of crop rotation. After small-seeded and cruciferous crops, it grows poorly, so if cabbage, carrots or dill grew on the site in previous years, it is better to choose another place. But the nightshade and pumpkin will be good predecessors, so the plant can be safely grown after cucumbers, tomatoes, potatoes and pumpkins.

Since the formation of the fruit occurs in the underground part, the beets are very susceptible to the composition and structure of the soil. She prefers nutrient grounds: peat, sandy and loamy.

The fruits ripen well with sufficient watering. However, with excessive moisture, they can rot, so the optimal solution is to equip a drainage system at the site, which will remove excess moisture from the ground.

To get a good harvest, it is necessary to prepare the soil, equip the beds themselves, and also to disinfect and arouse the seeds.

Beets do not like frequent planting, if the plants are too close to each other, then the root crop is suspended in growth and development and in this case you will not have to wait for a good harvest. For varieties with small fruits, the distance between plants should be 6-7 cm, and for larger ones, at least 10 will be required. The width of the spacing is usually 30 cm.However, if you wish, you can increase it and plant stripes with marigolds and other pungent-smelling plants that scare away the pests of fruit crops in the garden.

Some gardeners advise on the edge of the beds to make grooves - in this case, the fruits grow larger, and the garden itself looks more aesthetically pleasing.

When planning the cultivation of crops on the site, keep in mind that the best neighbors for beets can be all kinds of lettuce, dill, onions, tomatoes and cabbage.

Land for beets should be prepared in the autumn after the previous harvest. To this end, the soil is plowed with compost or manure, and fertilizers should be deepened as deep as possible - 30–40 cm.

The soil should be neutral. To reduce acidity, ashes, dolomite flour, or crushed egg shell are introduced into the soil.

In the fall, you need to add mineral fertilizers - superphosphate and potassium sulfate. These dry dressings are scattered over future beds at the rate of 300 g per square meter.

In spring, the land must be re-digged again, and then mulched with rotted sawdust or peat. Root crop prefers loose soil. so if they are too dense, you can enter a bit of sand.

Immediately before planting, the soil is watered with boiling water, and then covered with a film as soon as the earth dries out, seeds are planted.

Seeding material before planting should be treated in a special way in order to achieve greater germination and plant resistance to diseases.

The seeds of this culture are small stems in which 2-6 seeds are harvested. Inexperienced gardeners are often surprised when heap shoots suddenly appear when planting one such lump.

Greater germination can be achieved by soaking the seed for 24 hours in one of the following solutions (per 1 liter of water):

• boric acid - 1/4 tsp .;
• nitrophoska - 1/2 tsp;
• table soda - 1 tsp;
• wood ash - 1 tbsp. l

After processing, the seeds are wrapped in moistened gauze and kept for 3-5 days at room temperature, preventing the fabric from drying out. Many gardeners recommend sprouting them before planting. The advantages of pre-germination are that only viable seeds will fall into the ground, and the harvest can be obtained much earlier.

The main problem with planting beets with seeds is that in this case at least two times the seedlings will have to be thinned. For those who have no desire to do this, suitable seedling method of growing crops. Her training begin to engage in about a month before moving to open ground.

Agrotechnika while this is:

1. fill the tank into the ground and form the grooves at a distance of 5-6 cm from each other;
2. deepen the seeds in increments of 3 cm;
3. Moisten well and close with foil, make a mini-greenhouse.

When the first shoots appear, the shelter is removed and the seedlings are placed on the southern window, and when 4 leaves appear on the bush, it should be transplanted together with the earthy clod.

Growing beets has its own characteristics. Let us dwell on them in more detail.

It is possible to plant beets in the most different periods.

As a rule, choose one of the following schemes.

• The end of April is the first decade of May. In this case, it is necessary to give preference to early varieties that are resistant to cold and low temperatures. Planting work can be carried out immediately after the earth warms to 5-6 degrees. This option is most often used by summer residents in our country.
• The first half of June. At this time, planting varieties for storage in winter. It is recommended to plant species with medium maturity, which just have time to grow and get stronger before the onset of the first frost.
• Landing in the winter.This option allows you to get juicy fruits in early spring. Choose varieties that are not afraid of frost. Planting time is important to choose so that the temperature is set at 0-5 degrees and the seeds did not have time to germinate before the onset of cold weather. Otherwise, they may die and then not climb.

The most common mistake novice vegetable growers when planting seeds - too deep embedment. In conditions of lack of air under a thick layer of soil sprouts can simply not break through. At the same time, if you plant the seeds too close to the surface, they can be carried away by the wind or they will dry out under the scorching rays of the sun. It will be right to deepen the replaceable material by 3 cm - for loose soil and 2 cm - for heavy.

In order to get the seedlings as quickly as possible, experienced gardeners advise the following method. In the formed beds, grooves are made, the bottom is tamped and the beet seeds are laid. On top of them, 0.5 cm of earth is poured in half with rotted manure or compost. This layer is slightly compacted, and humus or peat is laid on top of 1-2 cm. Seeds planted in this way germinate even at a temperature of 4-5 degrees, and the first shoots appear already on the 10th day.

For transplanting beet seedlings is best to create a warm garden bed. It is very simple to make it - for this purpose they dig a ditch with a width of up to 1.5 m and a depth of 35-40 cm. Manure is laid in the dug-out pit, which is covered with earth and young beet seedlings must be transplanted over such a pillow. If you make such a bed with the observance of technology, it will generate heat, contributing to the early maturation of root crops.

It is better to transplant beets in wet weather. If there is little rain, then a cool evening should be selected for the transplant. In the planting holes of the plant must be placed carefully, so as not to damage the roots, otherwise we risk getting a deformed fruit. Although the seedlings of varieties with round root vegetables experienced vegetable growers recommend pinching the root by one third. The entire lower part of the plant before the beginning of the leaves should be in the ground.

Weeding should be regular. Weeds should be disposed of in a timely manner, and the pulling should be deep, as the plant roots remaining in the ground prevent the fruit from forming, lead to a decrease in yield and the development of defective root crops.

Beet prefers light soils. It needs the access of oxygen to the roots, so special attention should be paid to loosening. It should be carried out carefully and only between the rows.

With the seed method at least twice per season will have to thin the planting. The first time it is done at the stage of three leaves, the second - at five. After the first thinning, the distance between shoots is left at 4 cm, and after the second - 7-10 cm.

During the period of the formation of the fetus, the plant needs abundant watering. It is optimal to moisturize the ground once a week, in case of hot dry weather, the amount of watering can be increased.

The roots of the plant accumulate nitrogen, so when adding nitrate or urea, the excess trace element can be deposited in the fruit. For the full growth of the plant is enough one or two feedings per year. A couple of weeks after planting, potash-phosphorus supplements are introduced into the ground, shortly before the harvest, it makes sense to add compounds containing calcium, manganese and boron.

The greatest danger to beets in the early stages of development are pests:

• aphid - manifests itself in the form of moldy plaque, which is formed from the skins discharged by the pest during shedding, devouring the green parts of the plant;
• beet flea - black bugs in the size of 1-1,5 mm with a greenish or bronze tint, harm the basal petioles of beets;
• beet weevil - dangerous for beets in the early stages of development, because it damages the cotyledon leaves, and in the later stages bites stalks;
• nematode - filamentous worm that infects the root and causes the death of the plant.

Of the diseases, beetroot is prone to garnet, chalcosporosis, peronospora, fomoz and kagatnoy rot. Each of them, if left untreated, leads to the decay of root crops.

In order to prevent the development of diseases, the emergence of pests, it is necessary to timely remove weeds, observe crop rotation, fertilize in sufficient quantities, do not use fresh manure. Optimal will be planting seeds of pest-resistant varieties of crops and disinfect the land before planting.

Those who want to get the sweetest beets should turn to folk remedies.

According to reviews, significantly improve the taste of the fruit can be using simple boric acid. This substance contributes to the maximum production of sugar-containing substances in the roots, so feeding is suitable for lovers of sweet vegetables. To do this, 10 g of boron drug diluted in a bucket of water and watered. But if you need to "sugar" the beets urgently, then take 5 tbsp of water in a bucket of water. tablespoons of acid, then the fruit will be sweet just a couple of days after processing.

To increase the yield and sugar content, the land is also treated with salt (1 tablespoon per 10 liters). Bred and salt water is watered between the rows.

About planting, care and cultivation of beets, see the following video.