Agronomist and horticultural grower from Tula Lyudmila Kalinina told how to grow beets.
“At all times and among different peoples, beets were considered an exceptionally healing product. Even the “father of medicine” Hippocrates recognized it useful for treating patients and included it in dozens of recipes. Among the medicinal properties, scientists call the ability to delay the growth of tumors. The substances contained in beets help improve liver function, fat metabolism, and reduce blood cholesterol. Beetroot has wound healing, diuretic, laxative, analgesic properties. Therefore, this vegetable has been cultivated for a very long time “, – says Lyudmila.
Beets came to Russia in the 10th century from Byzantium. Many classic beetroot dishes have appeared here, including the famous borscht. There is information that the vegetable, revered today in our open spaces and loved by fellow citizens as a fur coat for herring, was already very popular in Russia in the 16th century. The popularization of the root crop and its advancement far to the north happened thanks to the efforts of our famous fellow countryman Bolotov.
Beetroot is not a very capricious plant, but it still has certain requirements for soil conditions. For example, acidic and waterlogged soils are unacceptable for her. It would be nice to add compost before planting in the beet beds.
It is necessary to sow beets later than carrots, somewhere in the second half of May, as they are afraid of frost.
Lyudmila Kalinina prefers the varieties Pablo, Boro, Action, Cardinal, Egyptian, Bordeaux, Pushkinskaya, Cylindra.
Lyudmila seals seeds in the beds to a depth of 2-3 cm in heaps of 2-3 pieces every 8-10 cm into well-shed grooves.
After emergence, the beets must be thinned out.
“For all the years of growing beets, I have never fed them, did not use stimulants, did not spray them against pests and diseases, watered only in the driest weather, and the harvest was invariably pleasing. A grateful and labor-consuming culture – there is enough harvest for itself, for guests from the city, and for pets ”, – says the agronomist-fruit grower.