Grow your own food, week 6 - baby beets. (And plant those potatoes)

Dominic Murphy

15 April 2011

I'm a late convert to beetroot, having been put off by the slimy discs they served at school. The sliminess was bad enough. Sometimes they were chewy too.

But once I had tasted the sweetness of roast baby beets, I was won over.

Baby beet is simply young beetroot, harvested when around the size of a golf ball. The root is sweeter and more tender this way.

You can leave them in the ground to get more mature, if you prefer. But then you risk them becoming coarse and woody.

And don't get me started on our national obsession with size over taste. In village shows across the country, there'll be gongs for massive beetroot with the texture of wine corks. And long, stringy beans that get stuck in your throat.

Now is the best time to start sowing beetroot - too early and the plant might bolt, creating flowers and seeds and little in the way of roots.

First, soak the seeds overnight and then sow them 2 cm deep. As the roots grow, water thoroughly every week or so if it's dry weather. A fluctuating supply of water can cause the beets to split.

To harvest, gently get under the plant with a fork and lift, and then twist off the leaves a few centimetres from the root.

Make sure you're wearing old clothes - beetroot juice doesn't shift too easily.

Plant those potatoes

Did you chit your potatoes, as I mentioned in a previous blog? If so, they're probably ready to go in the ground.

Each tuber should have 3 or 4 strong shoots, preferably at the upward-facing end when you plant it - knock off any more.

Plant your potatoes 12 cm deep and 30 cm apart, with 60 cm between rows for new potatoes (earlies) and 75 cm for maincrop. Confused about earlies and maincrop? Then see my previous blog.

When shoots pop up out of the ground, scrape soil on to them to form a ridge over the plant. Keep doing this at intervals when the shoots show through until your ridge is about 30 cm high. This is known as earthing up.

Your earlies are ready when their flowers open. Your maincrop can be left in the ground until needed and harvested from late summer.

Potatoes in pots

You can grow potatoes in large containers, or even an old compost bag.

If it's the latter, make sure you have poked a few holes in the bottom for drainage. Also, roll down the outside of large bags so you don't have to find loads of soil to fill it, and so your plant is not growing in the dark.

Put about 10 cm of earth in the bottom of your bag, then put in a tuber and cover with another 5 cm of soil. Earth up and harvest as above.

Dominic Murphy, Publishing & New Media Team

Dominic Murphy's book The Playground Potting Shed includes an easy guide to growing food throughout the year. To order a signed copy at the special price of £6.99, please visit our Shop