Beet tops make excellent greens, and shouldn't be thrown away..."
Beets grow fast in early spring or fall when weather is mild.
If beets do not grow and produce well, but they turn brownish in color, you can be pretty sure that the soil is too acid. Lime soil before planting another crop.
Beets need a fertile, deep soil. Plant thick, 15 to 18 seed per foot of drill. Cover only about 1/2 inch deep.
When up and growing well, thin to one plant each 2 or 3 inches. These thinnings may be set elsewhere, as the beet is fairly easy to transplant.
Make the first planting as soon as ground is workable in early spring. Four to six weeks before last frost is a good planting date. While young beets are killed by hard freezes, they withstand frost and light freezes.
Make a second planting in May or June, and a third from July to September. These three plantings, if properly put in and cared for, will give a constant supply throughout the season.
The crop maturing in late fall may be banked or stored like turnips. For storage, plant seed about 70 to 75 days before the first expected killing frost.
