Hi, I'm Heidi Rader, here in the Alaska Garden.
I'm with UAF Cooperative Extension Service and Tanana
Chiefs Conference, and I'll be talking
all about growing vegetables, flowers, and berries
in your garden and farm.
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Beets are a versatile, tasty, nutritious root vegetable.
You can eat both the root and greens of the beet.
Beets are delicious steamed, roasted, pickled, or fermented,
and they also store well in a root cellar.
In 2018, in descending order, Zeppo, Boro, Subeto, Pablo, Red
Ace, Detroit Dark Red, Robin, and Merlin yields
were significantly higher than Falcon, Early Blood Turnip,
and Lutz Green Leaf.
Zeppo was the highest yielding variety,
at an average of 2.1 pounds per row feet.
The higher yielding varieties also
had correspondingly high rates in other areas,
including plant vigor, bolting sensitivity, and uniformity.
The average size of Boro, Subeto, and Zeppo beets,
all hybrids, were over 5 ounces in 2018.
Falcon, Early Blood Turnip, and Lutz Green Leaf were
dropped from 2019 trials, because they tended to crack
and bolt. In 2019 in Fairbanks, in descending order, Subeto,
Zeppo, Robin, Red Ace, Boro and Pablo had the highest yields,
and Detroit Dark Red had the lowest.
Detroit Dark Red tended to bolt and was not a hybrid variety.
Subeto, the highest yielding variety,
averaged two and a half pounds per row feet,
and was the only beat in 2019 to average 5 ounces per beet.
The higher yielding varieties also
had correspondingly high rates in other areas,
including plant vigor, bolting sensitivity, uniformity,
and pest and disease resistance.
There are lots of other varieties of beets
to choose from, and there may be reasons
to choose other varieties besides just their yield.
Golden beets and Chioggia, red and white
striped, offer interesting variety,
although in my opinion, a more muted taste
than the standard beets.
Cylindra grows in a long, symmetrical shape,
which may make it a little easier to can, pickle, or cook.
In our trials, we have found relatively few pest problems
with beets.
Voles are probably the biggest one I've seen.
Beets will also bolt, particularly
some of the heirloom varieties,
so don't wait too long to harvest beets when they're ready.
And of course, some of the beets will
bolt even before the root bulks up into a nice sized beet.
You can plant beets when the soil warms up,
well before June 1st.
They're quite cold tolerant.
In 30 inch wide rows, try planting three rows of beets,
one and a quarter inch apart. Thin to two inches apart.
Or you can broadcast the seed and thin appropriately.
Be sure to give extra space to those varieties that grow large.
What you think of as a beet seed is actually
a structure of multiple seeds, so thinning is very important.
Do go ahead and eat the small, tender beet greens
that you thin, though.
My favorite recipe to use beets is
from Jo Robinson in her book, Eating on the Wild Side.
It uses both the beet and the beet greens in a salad.
It calls for two bunches of beets.
First, you steam the beets whole and then chop them when soft.
Separately, you saute a quarter cup
of olive oil, quarter cup of chopped onion
for a few minutes.
Then add two garlic cloves and the chopped beet greens.
Separately, reduce half a cup of Balsamic vinegar
to about a half as much in a saucepan.
Finally, to assemble the salad, chop the beets.
Toss in the greens, garlic, and onion,
and add two thirds cup of goat cheese and the zest of one lemon.
For more information on growing beets in Alaska, see the links at the bottom of this video.
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