Growing Beetroot is comparatively easy and can definitely add color to your salad platter. The root vegetable is known to be a biennial plant which can be grown as an annual crop as well.  Apart from the highly popular global variety that is purple or a deep carmine in color, golden and white colored beetroots can be grown in your kitchen garden in very much the same way. Moreover, they are equally nutritious and can help you to add variety to your vegetable tureen.

Implements Required To Grow Beetroots

• Beetroot seeds
• Gardening spades, trowels and hoes
• Nitrogen rich fertilizers
• Mulch
• Protective covering

How to Grow Beetroot

• Firstly locate the ideal patch of soil where you would want to plant the seeds. Ensure that it is located in a sunny area, is well drained but not completely dry. The pH should remain neutral around 7.
• The bed for the beetroot plants need to be prepared in advance preferably in autumn to allow the winter to break down the rough soil.
• The seeds need to be sown after the frost is over. However, it is not recommended to add manure at this point of time. Sowing the seeds in multiple batches will ensure you a steady quantity of beetroot from your kitchen garden all throughout the season.
• The seeds need to be soaked in water a couple of hours before sowing to facilitate the germination process.
• Planting them into a hole drilled 2.5 inches deep is considered to be ideal while the spacing between each cluster of seeds need to about 5 inches.
• Watering the plants adequately so that they receive at least an inch of water every week is necessary.
• You can also mulch the soil now so that it retains the moisture.
• Adding a nitrogen rich fertilizer will make the plants grow rapidly.
• Weeding the soil becomes necessary once the beetroot plants start swelling at the roots.
• Covering the young plants by rowing covers and cloches provide protection as well.
• The beetroots are ready to be harvested after a minimum period of 8 weeks. However, the first harvesting should be akin to thinning with alternate plants being pulled out. This will ensure a steady supply.

It is also possible to grow the beetroots in a container by sowing the seeds very thinly and watering them from time to time.

Now that you have learnt the art of growing beetroot be prepared to lead a colorful life that is nutritious as well.

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