Beetroot maturing

Harvesting and preserving your fruit & veg

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JohnN
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Is anyone else having a problem with their beetroot (Boltardy) maturing properly? The foliage looks fine and using Enviromesh I seem to have dodged leaf miner, but the actual roots are very small, no bigger than golf ball size, instead of the usual tennis ball. There's time yet, I suppose, but this very dry weather hasn't helped. Should one water them or let them dig for it?!
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Pa Snip
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Ground is so dry here any damp soil is way way below beetroot root depth so I am watering regularly
You are looking for a nice bulbous round beetroot with Boltardy, not ones with long roots that are too thin to be edible.

Water regularly, give the beet a good soak once, then just enough to keep ground moist but not soaking wet

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PLUMPUDDING
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Yes beetroot need watering. They don't like it dry. Mine in the greenhouse are swelling nicely. Most of the outdoor sowing have vanished.
Westi
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Ditto - give them a water, you'll note when you pull them there is one deep root but lots of fine hair roots. Don't let the plant waste energy putting that deep root down to the water instead of bulking up. I take mine quite small, smaller than tennis ball to roast in foil with balsamic & herbs, but do let some get bigger to pickle as well.

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Pawty
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My beetroot are still quite small, but I don't mind as they'll mature at some point and often find they give me a good Autumn crop. I also sowed an additional row quite late. I keep my watered.

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Westi
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I'm going to put in a late sowing this week, that will be 4 different ones. I have one I am harvesting, one up & just starting to swell, one just leaves to date with no swelling yet, so one more could see me through if the weather is kind.

Fingers crossed!
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Westi have you tried planting more than one maybe a row at a time :lol: :mrgreen:
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Good one! Finally the problem is solved! :lol:

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JohnN
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And another thing… several of my beetroots are "albino", some totally white, others white with a red skin. Cause? OK to eat??
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oldherbaceous
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Evening John, if they were the free Boltardy seeds from KG, i have had the same thing......i did pull the white ones out at an early stage, as i think they look rather insipid when cooked, but the other mix i left and they were fine.....so a mixture of seed, packed as Boltady, i think.
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Pawty
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I've planted a rainbow mix of beetroot seeds before. Husband loved the white ones. They were very sweet, but equally could have been a different variety.... I now specifically plant some white ones (sorry, I don't remember the variety).

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JohnN
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Mine are Johnsons Boltardy, purchased from the Crawley gardening society.
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