[Music]
beatrice i find one of the most amazing
vegetables very grow so easily and they
taste so nice what not to like i think
it's a bit that they because they're so
easy and prevalent but taking the
granted rather and yet we've had people
come on courses here at homemakers where
staff cooks lots of featured dishes for
lunch and there were several I've said I
don't used to must be true and with
white continously parties because
they've only ever eaten pickled beetroot
beetroot in vinegar and it's alright are
there are so many other things you can
do with it and when you grow your own
you get so much more flavor you get deep
rich flavors and tastes and sweetness to
that you probably haven't known before
in be tree you might have bought so
here's a video to show you ways of
growing it and to get you all excited
about be tree in this case I'm filling a
tray with some homemade compost that I
put through a very rough sieve you could
also use any multi-purpose compost it
doesn't have to be specifically seed
compost the main thing is that there's
some drainage capabilities the worst
thing for seeds is compost that lies wet
and soggy I'm pushing it in because that
means I can get a decent amount of
compost when composter is light and
fluffy it's better to firm it in before
sewing or pricking out and that way
you've got a nice firm medium which
won't all fall apart when you push it
out and at planting time beetroot is a
great span buy in the garden and it's
not difficult to grow but sometimes
there are issues with sowing the seeds
and little birds for example love
beetroot seedlings so it's a good one to
start under cover and it works really
well showing it in trays module cells
that you can then plant out and
though it's a root vegetable it's not
making a taproot so the planting process
does not damage the part that we eat it
does make the little roots that come out
of the root fork a little bit but that's
not a problem for the harvest or the
eating so I pre filled a tray of 40
cells with compost and B chia seeds are
quite big so they're not too difficult
to handle and I'm multi sowing on
average four seeds per cell each seed
may germinate more than one seedling on
the other hand some things don't
germinate at all so I find on average
for most these four seeds give you four
plants if by any chance they all come up
then it's a time to do a bit of thinning
but it works well to aim for four
beetroot plants in each cell which one
then plants in a clump unpinned and they
all grow together and they like being
together with their mates basically it
seems they they actually seem to grow to
better planted as a clump than a singles
they have company on the spot and in
terms of varieties of beetroot to grow
this is winter at the moment it's the
first sowing of the year in February
under cover not outside yes too early
but for undercover sowing in February
there's only one variety that I know of
anyway which is worth sowing at this
time of year and that is called
all tidy I've been growing bald tardy
now for over 30 years and it's never
failed me it's wonderful flavoured root
lovely red beetroot and the reason it's
called ball tart is because it's hardly
to bolting that it doesn't bolt does
which means going to flower seed if you
sow other varieties at this time of year
there's always a risk that they will
bolt and go to flower before the roof is
a decent size so that would make the
root woody it's not happy
now a little bit of compost on top the
seeds are not enormous but they're just
big enough that you can put a decent
little dressing of compost on there just
like that a light covering I'm just
going to tamp it down and I'll give this
tray a little water before seeing as
it's mid-february I'm going to take it
in the house and put it on the
windowsill little label off we go and
having solar trays I'm giving a light
simple water from above with a fine rose
on the can this compost was quite moist
so I'm not watering a lot sometimes you
might need to alter a bit more and then
let them drain and put them wherever you
want to let them grow basically in this
case it's winter so I'm bringing them
indoors to the house where they're
warmer this is boltar the beetroot
seedlings exactly three weeks after
sowing and they spent the first part of
that time ten days in here on the
windowsill then they've been 10 days on
my hot bed in the greenhouse and that's
I think what's cause be slightly uneven
germination where according to the
palate shape of that they've been
sitting on a pallet on the hot bed and
different amounts of heat coming through
but what we're really looking at here is
thinning them a bit because some of
these trays have got ourselves rather
have got too many seedlings in and I
want to thin them because for bee tree
to grow successfully you don't actually
want too many in a clump four or five is
an ideal number and some of these have
got 6 7 even 8 or 9 and that's
definitely worthwhile removing the
excess because otherwise you get all
these or not literally but more leaves
than root you want always with root
vegetables you want a balance of leaf
and root development on the other hand
we'd certainly also want the most
possible so that's why 4 is a good
number because it means that for every
time you planting out you're getting
more than one that there I'm just taking
out the seedlings this is a very good
stage to do it because they haven't got
too big
and they're not disturbing the others
too much so that's ready to go they're
planting beetroot soapy fruit does grow
well from being sown in a module tray
and the four seeds which I sowed five
weeks ago in the green house have been
growing nicely into little seedlings
I've even had to thin the seedling trays
themselves actually because sometimes
when four seeds you get six plants so
what I'm aiming for is four or five
plants in each and each of these little
blocks of beetroot seed so in five weeks
ago are going in as a clump so they will
push one another apart as they grow
there's many nice things about doing it
this way one is that each little action
of planting here I'm putting in four or
five B trees so it's time efficient
hasn't used too much compost to grow in
the green hat and the beetroot like it
because they're going in with their
friends and not being separated or
singled and all together and they can
carry on growing together and swell up
as they do and I've put them 14 13 14
inches around 35 centimeters from the
row of spinach here so spacing wise
these are fairly close but the idea is
for example with these beetroot to
harvest them quite small so that's how
you can have a little bit closer here we
are now in the third week of May
glorious summer weather 22 centigrade 72
fine bit unusual for us
but we had some warmth then it has
enabled some growth on the bee tree and
the spinach for that matter you can see
that it's quite a jungle here now and
the peach who have done the wonderful
thing they do which is the larger ones
growing faster than the smaller ones so
at harvest time with multi zone modules
like this you can twist out the biggest
one and that allows the remaining roots
to grow some more
just push a bit of compost up there so
there is the first harvest and I can do
the same on the next module
another large root so it's the thing of
twisting and that means you just take
one at a time right in this clump
there's five all together actually no
this suit but quite how I managed that
I'm going to twist out even a second one
from that leaving four and the joyful
thing with these beet roots is you have
two harvests if you wish because these
leaves are like chard or leaf beets
spinach and very edible and the damage
here to this one you can see packing and
that's why I've got this met on its to
keeps our local population asparagus
these leaves they just happen to love
them you might not have this problem
every vegetable turns to have a pest and
you have to work out what it is and
suitable measures this this bird netting
is very simple to lay over the leaves
and then just pull back for harvest