I have attached images of my little beet project. A couple of beets were interesting enough for me to put back in the ground for hopeful seed production.
Hopefully they will produce me a little inbred line of gigantic golden beets that grow well in the Deep South of US in clay dirt. I guess “Golden Goose” or “Golden Egg” would be a nice name if it’s not already taken.
I also have a little patch of beets that were bred for raw taste. I don’t think they are ready for testing yet.
Nice! What varieties did you start with? They look fair sized.
I have-
Mangel beets, 100 day
Cylindra beet, 55 day
Ruby queen beet, 60 day
Golden grex beet
3 root grex, 55 day
I’ve read that the mangels are perfectly edible when young just like any other beet. I’m growing them mainly for the animals.
I’m jealous. When did you sow these?
I used maybe a dozen unique varieties. All I have leftovers on is Evansville Ember, Blushing Not Bashful, Kamuolini 2, and Golden Grex.
I know I used all the varieties you named except Mangel. I used the standard most popular retail varieties found at hardware stores and feed stores.
The 2 special varieties bred for raw taste I am excited about are in the image below. I saved a packet of each of them to try again should the first attempt fail to produce. I planted a packet of each out in a separate patch.
Also, it looks like Badger Flame might be in stock at Row 7 seeds this January 2024.
I have no idea when I sowed these seeds. I remember it was really hot, like early to mid fall. It was scorched earth out there. These were the top percentile in dealing with that trauma.
I wouldn’t be surprised if the beets you see in the harvest image are way past due in terms of the length of days stated on the seed packet. I have them sitting outside in a bucket tonight since we are in the 40 degree range. I will clean them up tomorrow and will probably pickle some of them and figure out how to cook the rest of them.
After cleaning and cutting the beets, I decided to put 3 additional beets back in the ground. All 3 are unique and representative of different varieties. This is a test to see if they can survive a rigorous cleaning process. They were scrubbed, skinned, and top and bottom were cut off. If they survive, I can imagine an easier testing process later. I don’t really care if they fail.
Did the cold weather kill your beets?
