Organic Beetroot Seeds

Beetroot Detroit 2 Bolivar 75 Organic Beetroot Seeds £0.90 123

• Smooth skinned, with good colour and texture and excellent flavour.   
• Produces baby beets as well as full sized ones.
• Detroit 2 Bolivar stores well.
  

Sowing Instructions

Sow: Very thinly around 1.5cm deep from March to July directly into well prepared soil on a sunny site (remove as many stones as you can to prevent oddly shaped beets).  Beetroot do not like recently manured soil!  Use a cloche to protect early sowings from hard frost.  Make more than one sowing unless you want them all ready at the same time for pickling.

Aftercare: Each seed will produce 3-4 seedlings.  Leave the strongest and remove the other 2-3 seedlings. Water well in dry conditions to prevent bolting and to stop the beetroot from developing woody roots.

Harvest: June to October.  Pick alternate ones as baby beets, around 9 weeks after sowing.  This will give the others left in the ground room to grow to full, golf ball, size and will save you the trouble of having to thin them out.  Lift and store mature beets, rather than leaving them in the ground to go woody.

Tip: Twist off the leaves about 4 – 5cm from the crown to minimise bleeding when cooking.

Cooking Tips

Baby beets are particularly suitable for using raw, grated in salads.  Just top and tail then peel.  Roast by rubbing with olive oil, wrapping in foil and baking for 60-90 minutes. Boil or steam for 30-90 minutes depending on size.  Add a splash of balsamic vinegar for extra flavour.  Once cooked, skins are easily rubbed off prior to eating, if desired. Probably the most common way or using and storing beetroot is to pickle it. 
Don’t discard the beetroot leaves.  These can be cooked and used as spinach.

Beetroot stains.  Wear gloves when preparing to avoid staining your hands and protect worktops, clothing, etc.