Beets: How to Grow, Harvest, Store, Cook & Enjoy This Garden Favorite
Beets are one of those wonderfully unfussy garden vegetables that deserve far more attention.
They grow beneath the soil while their leafy tops reach toward the sun, giving you two edible crops from one plant. The roots can be roasted, boiled, steamed, pickled, grated raw, or added to soups and stews. The greens can be cooked much like other leafy vegetables.
Even better, beets are useful for both the fresh kitchen and the homestead pantry.
Whether you're growing a few beets in a backyard garden, filling a raised bed, or experimenting with container gardening, they are a rewarding crop to add to your growing plans.
Choosing Beets for Your Garden
Beets come in more varieties than the familiar deep red roots found at the grocery store.
You may find:
- Red beets - The classic beet with deep burgundy roots and earthy sweetness.
- Golden beets - Mild, sweet, and bright yellow-orange inside.
- Chioggia beets - Sometimes called candy-striped beets because of their beautiful red-and-white rings.
- White beets - Mild and sweet with pale roots.
- Baby beets - Harvested young for tender roots and greens.
If you're growing beets primarily for cooking, consider planting more than one variety. A mixture of colors makes a garden harvest much more interesting.
When to Plant Beets
Beets are generally a cool-season crop.
They tend to perform best when temperatures are mild rather than during the hottest part of summer. In many regions, gardeners grow beets in spring and again in late summer or early fall for a fall harvest.
Your ideal planting time depends heavily on your local climate.
In cooler regions, beets are often planted in early spring as soon as the soil can be worked. In warmer climates, fall and winter can provide better growing conditions.
For a continuous harvest, consider succession planting by sowing small amounts every couple of weeks during the appropriate growing season.
How to Plant Beets
Beets are usually grown directly from seed.
Choose a sunny location with loose, well-draining soil. Dense or compacted soil can make it difficult for the roots to develop properly.
Before planting:
- Loosen the soil several inches deep.
- Remove large rocks and clumps.
- Add compost if your soil needs organic matter.
- Smooth the planting area.
- Sow beet seeds according to the spacing and depth recommended for your particular variety.
- Keep the soil consistently moist while the seeds are germinating.
One interesting thing about beet seeds is that what looks like one seed may actually contain multiple seeds. This means several seedlings can emerge from one planting spot.
That brings us to one of the most important parts of growing beets.
Don't Forget to Thin Your Beet Seedlings
Thinning can feel painful when you've carefully watched those little seedlings emerge, but it gives your remaining plants the room they need to develop healthy roots.
Once the seedlings emerge, thin them according to the recommended spacing for the variety you're growing.
And don't throw those little plants away!
Young beet seedlings can be edible, depending on their size and condition. Tender greens can be added to salads or cooked with other greens.
It's one of the easiest ways to get more food from your garden.
Caring for Growing Beets
Beets are relatively easy to grow, but consistent moisture is important.
Watering
Keep the soil evenly moist, particularly while the plants are establishing and while the roots are developing.
Allowing plants to repeatedly dry out and then become heavily watered can contribute to uneven growth and other problems.
Weeding
Keep competing weeds under control while beet plants are young.
Beet seedlings can be especially vulnerable to competition before their leaves become large enough to shade the surrounding soil.
Mulching
A layer of suitable organic mulch can help conserve soil moisture and reduce weed growth.
Keep mulch from being packed directly against the crown of the plant.
Feeding
Beets generally don't require an elaborate feeding routine when grown in reasonably fertile soil.
Too much nitrogen can encourage lush leaf growth at the expense of desirable root development, so avoid overfertilizing.
When Are Beets Ready to Harvest?
One of the fun things about beets is that you can harvest them at different stages.
Young beets are tender and often have a milder flavor. Larger roots can be harvested when they have reached the size you prefer.
Check the shoulders of the roots where they emerge slightly above the soil.
You can gently brush away some soil to see how large the root has become without pulling the entire plant.
Don't forget the greens!
Tender beet greens can be harvested while the roots are developing. Avoid removing too many leaves from a single plant at once because the foliage helps the plant continue growing.
How to Harvest Beets
When you're ready to harvest the roots, loosen the soil around them if necessary and gently pull the beet from the ground.
If the soil is dry and hard, watering the garden beforehand can make harvesting easier.
After harvesting, separate the greens from the roots.
For storage, leave a small amount of stem attached rather than cutting the stems completely down to the root.
Be gentle with freshly harvested beets because bruising and damage can shorten their storage life.
How to Store Fresh Beets
For short-term use, freshly harvested beets can be refrigerated.
Remove the leafy tops before storing because the greens draw moisture from the roots.
Don't throw those greens away, though!
Use them within a few days for the best quality.
For longer storage, beets can be kept under appropriate cool, humid storage conditions. A traditional root cellar or suitable cold-storage environment can work well in regions where those conditions are available.
Storage life depends on temperature, humidity, variety, and the condition of the harvested roots.
Can You Freeze Beets?
Yes.
Cooked beets can be prepared for freezing. A common approach is to cook them until tender, cool them, remove the skins, cut them into the desired size, and package them appropriately for freezer storage.
Frozen beets are especially convenient for soups, roasted vegetable dishes, smoothies, and other cooked recipes.
For best quality, follow current tested food-preservation recommendations for freezing vegetables.
Can You Preserve Beets?
Beets can also be preserved through methods such as pickling and pressure canning.
Important: Plain beets are a low-acid vegetable and should not be safely canned using a boiling-water bath. If you're preserving plain beets for shelf storage, use a current tested pressure-canning recipe and follow the processing instructions carefully.
Pickled beets are a different matter because properly formulated pickling recipes use acid to create a safe preservation environment.
Never improvise the vinegar, water, vegetable, or processing ratios in a canning recipe.
How to Cook Beets
Beets are incredibly versatile in the kitchen.
Roasted Beets
Roasting brings out their natural sweetness and creates beautifully caramelized edges.
Scrub the beets well and trim the tops. Depending on their size, you can roast them whole or cut them into chunks.
Toss with a little oil and season with salt and pepper.
Roast until fork-tender.
Once cool enough to handle, the skins can usually be slipped away easily.
Serve roasted beets as a side dish or add them to salads, grain bowls, wraps, or roasted vegetable platters.
Simple Garlic Roasted Beets
Ingredients
- 4 medium beets
- 1 1/2 tablespoons olive oil
- 2 cloves garlic, finely minced
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
- 1 teaspoon fresh or dried thyme
Directions
- Heat the oven to 400°F.
- Scrub and trim the beets.
- Cut them into similarly sized pieces.
- Toss with olive oil, garlic, salt, pepper, and thyme.
- Spread on a baking sheet.
- Roast for approximately 30 to 45 minutes, depending on the size of the pieces.
- Turn once during cooking.
- Remove when the beets are tender when pierced with a fork.
Serve warm or chilled.
Easy Beet Salad With Goat Cheese
This is one of those recipes that makes beets feel fancy without requiring much work.
Ingredients
- 3 medium cooked beets
- 3 cups mixed greens
- 2 ounces goat cheese
- 1/4 cup chopped walnuts
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
- 1 teaspoon honey
- Salt and black pepper to taste
Directions
- Slice or cube the cooked beets.
- Arrange the greens on a serving plate.
- Add the beets.
- Sprinkle with goat cheese and walnuts.
- Whisk together the olive oil, balsamic vinegar, honey, salt, and pepper.
- Drizzle the dressing over the salad just before serving.
For a heartier meal, add roasted chicken, chickpeas, cooked grains, or another protein.
Simple Beet Soup
Beets are also wonderful in soups.
For an easy beet soup, sauté chopped onion and garlic in a little oil. Add peeled and chopped beets, carrots, potatoes, and vegetable or chicken broth.
Simmer until the vegetables are tender.
Blend until smooth if you prefer a creamy soup, or leave the vegetables chunky for a rustic version.
Season with salt, pepper, herbs, and a splash of lemon juice or vinegar to brighten the flavor.
For a creamy finish, stir in a spoonful of sour cream or plain yogurt when serving.
What to Do With Beet Greens
Please don't toss those beautiful beet tops into the compost unless they're past their prime.
Young beet greens can be eaten raw, while mature greens are particularly good cooked.
Try them:
- Sautéed with garlic and olive oil
- Added to soups
- Stir-fried with other vegetables
- Mixed into pasta
- Folded into omelets
- Added to casseroles
- Served alongside roasted meats
- Mixed with other garden greens
The stems can also be cooked.
Think of beet greens as another garden vegetable rather than waste from the beet harvest.
Easy Sautéed Beet Greens
Ingredients
- 1 large bunch beet greens
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 tablespoon water
- Salt and black pepper
- 1 teaspoon lemon juice
Directions
- Wash the greens thoroughly.
- Separate the stems from the leaves if the stems are thick.
- Heat the olive oil in a large skillet.
- Add the stems and cook for several minutes.
- Add the garlic.
- Add the leaves and water.
- Cover briefly until the greens begin to wilt.
- Remove the lid and continue cooking until tender.
- Season with salt, pepper, and lemon juice.
Simple, inexpensive, and straight from the garden.
Ideas for Using Your Beet Harvest
Once you start growing beets, you'll probably discover that one little row can produce more food than expected.
Here are some easy ways to use the harvest:
- Roast them with potatoes and carrots.
- Add shredded raw beets to salads.
- Make beet hummus.
- Blend cooked beets into soup.
- Add roasted beets to grain bowls.
- Serve them with goat cheese and walnuts.
- Sauté the greens with garlic.
- Make pickled beets using a tested recipe.
- Freeze cooked beets for later meals.
- Add small amounts of cooked beet to smoothies.
- Grate raw beets into slaws.
- Add roasted beets to sandwiches and wraps.
Growing Beets for the Pantry
Beets are a great example of why growing food is about more than producing something to eat today.
A successful beet harvest can give you fresh roots, edible greens, freezer ingredients, pickling projects, and ingredients for everyday meals.
They also fit nicely into a seasonal homesteading rhythm.
Plant during the appropriate cool season. Harvest young roots when you want tender vegetables. Allow some to mature for larger roots. Cook the greens while they're fresh. Preserve part of the harvest for later.
That is how a backyard garden starts becoming a pantry.
Final Thoughts
Beets may be humble, but they are remarkably useful.
They're relatively easy to grow, come in beautiful varieties, provide both edible roots and greens, and can move effortlessly from garden to dinner table.
And that deep ruby color?
That's just showing off. ❤️
If you're looking for a vegetable that can give you garden food now, pantry possibilities later, and plenty of ways to experiment in the kitchen, beets deserve a spot in your garden.
Gardening Note
Beet planting dates, varieties, watering needs, and harvest timing vary considerably by climate, soil, and region. Beets generally prefer cool growing conditions, but the best planting window can be very different in northern, southern, desert, tropical, and high-elevation gardens. Adjust your planting schedule and care routine to your local growing conditions.
Food Preservation Safety Note
When preserving beets, use current tested food-preservation recipes and processing instructions. Plain beets require pressure canning for shelf-stable storage, while pickled beets require a properly tested acidification and processing method. Do not alter tested canning ratios or processing times.
