Something excellent and hard to pin down happened with the last planting of beets: they became HUGE. This was the fourth planting of the season, around mid-July (see them on the left), and the seedlings got caught in the near drought, although they were around the top of the irrigation list and got a decent share of water. In mid-September, the steady, plentiful rains started, along with continuing warm weather, but that was well into their growth (they’re all 50-60 day varieties). And thinning was good, though just the usual. Whatever the cause, all of them—Scarlet Supreme, Golden Detroit, Bull’s Blood, Chioggia—blew up, most weighing in at 1.5-2.5 lbs (700-1100 gms). Maybe I don’t get out enough (to check out other people’s produce around the country and the world :), or maybe more irrigation would do the trick, but to me it’s somewhat of a mystery how these got to double and triple size. I’ve tasted them all, raw and cooked: they’re firm, tender, with great color and flavor. Smaller beets are more convenient for some purposes, but these big guys are versatile and…easy to harvest and pack… Two to a beet!
Mike,
I took a big beet last week as a good bye gift for a friend. Well, today we ate that beet…yep it fed all 9 of us! See you Wednesday.
I believe the term for an over-sized beet, at least…according to a Mr. Tom Robbins is a “mangel-wurzel”
xoxo
Charlie E. London
I planted a Detroit Red Beet, the green leaves look great but the beet root is pretty small. It’s been quite wet over the last 7 weeks that I planted it. It says 59 days on the package so I’m hoping for some extra growth in the next two weeks. The two beets I picked were the two biggest plants, only a one and half inch beet. I planted it in some very loose top soil. Is there a time limit on beet growth?