Beets - Useful Properties, Varieties, The Best Varieties. Photo

• Part 1. Beets - useful properties, varieties, varieties
• Part 2. Agricultural technology of growing beets

In all, my dear, you are good in dishes

Vinaigrette, beetroot, borscht, medicinal juice and many other dishes are not complete without their main ingredient - beets. In all, my dear, you are good in dishes! This expression also applies to beets - one of the favorite vegetables for gardeners, indispensable in the daily diet. It is believed that in country gardens, beet farming does not require special tricks, but each variety type has its own care characteristics, violation of which reduces yield and worsens the quality of root crops.

Useful properties of beets

The useful properties of a vegetable crop are innumerable, and in terms of the content of vitamins, microelements, and other substances that are beneficial to health, beets deservedly take one of the first places in the food range. In beets, all parts of the plant are used as food: root crops, stems and leaves. The roots and beet leaves contain:

• practically all vitamins of group "B", "PP", "C" and others, and there is still a lot of vitamin "A" in the leaves.
• minerals, including iodine, magnesium, potassium, calcium, iron, copper, phosphorus, cobalt, zinc and many others,
• bioflanoids.

Betaine, contained in root vegetables, promotes almost 100% protein assimilation, and cobalt contributes to the formation of vitamin B12.

Beetroot strengthens the body, improves digestion, removes heavy metals, is used as an anti-cancer in the prevention and treatment. It is useful fresh and for all types of heat treatment (boiled, baked, etc.). You can write novels about the beneficial properties of beets and its use for medicinal purposes by official and traditional medicine. Of course, this vegetable must be included in the garden crop rotation and the diet of adults and children.

Cultivated species of beet

• In the diet, beets are used, with dark red roots of various shapes (round, elongated, cylindrical).
• In recent years, chard or leaf beet has been successfully grown, which forms a large leaf mass and an underdeveloped root crop.
• Lovers of sweet borscht breed sugar beets, some varieties of which contain up to 15-20% sugar. It is also successfully used in private farms for livestock and poultry feed.

In addition to food species and varieties, there is also fodder beet, which is widely used in the diet of farm animals, especially on dairy farms. Beets are milk-producing crops and are indispensable for increasing milk yield. Fodder beets can be used as food and are sometimes passed off as a canteen on the market. It is distinguished by its small root vegetable size, coarse fiber and low palatability. Therefore, it is practically not used for human food.

According to the ripening period, beets are divided into three groups: early, middle and late. The duration of the growing season in early varieties from mass germination to harvesting in technical ripeness is 50-75-90 days, average 90-100 and late 100-130 days.

Sorts of beetroot

The main goal of every vegetable grower is to obtain products of high quality, yield and aesthetic appearance. Beetroot is not without these features. According to its biological and economic characteristics, the shape of the root crop, beets are divided into the following varieties:

• Egyptian,
• Bordeaux,
• eclipse,
• erfurd.

Features of the variety type of Egyptian beet

• The cultivar is characterized by a rounded and flattened root crop.
• Early formation of a root vegetable, with good taste.
• The color of the flesh is one-color purple-red or (less often) alternating with light rings.
• The varieties are resistant to shooting and flowering, which contributes to the production of root crops with tender, juicy pulp.
• Good keeping quality is inherent in varieties. Root crops are suitable for autumn and sometimes autumn-winter storage
• are used for food in fresh and processed form.

The varieties of this type are mainly early - Egyptian flat and Egyptian round, Gribovskaya flat A437, Incomparable A463, Early miracle, Smuglyanka.

Features of the Bordeaux beet variety

The variety is characterized by:

• pronounced rounded-oval root crop,
• medium ripening, which allows you to accumulate more sugars in the root crop,
• pronounced sweet taste, which is the hallmark of Bordeaux varieties,
• dark red solid pulp,
• belongs to varieties with good keeping quality.

When grown in any conditions, it forms high yields with excellent quality.

For home cultivation, the following varieties are recommended: Bordeaux 337, single-seeded Hawskaya, Bravo, single-sprout G-1, Bikores.

Features of the beet variety Eclipse

The cultivar is easily distinguishable from others by its elongated oval-cylindrical, blunt-pointed, slightly curved shape or, in some cultivars, round,

• varieties belong to the group of medium ripening,
• the pulp is juicy, tender, of an unusual red-purple color,
• short shelf life is characteristic of varieties, therefore, in a dacha culture, it is limited in planting.

Popular varieties for growing and canning are Red Cylindrical, Slavyanka, Sonata.

Features of the Erfurd beet variety

As a rule, the varieties of this group are late-ripening varieties with a long growing season. Therefore, they are grown mainly in the southern regions.

Differ from other varieties:

• conical root crops,
• long-term, practically without waste, storage in the autumn-winter period,
• excellent taste,
• easily and quickly undergo heat treatment, therefore it is widely used for canning at home.

The varieties of this group are still not widespread. The most famous among gardeners is the Cylinder variety.

Knowing the characteristics of the varieties will help in purchasing the appropriate beet varieties for winter storage. Select the early ones, the most suitable for fresh use (juice) and after heat treatment for the daily diet and winter preparations.

For summer residents and owners of small garden plots, we suggest that you familiarize yourself in more detail with the varieties of beets of different maturation groups for home cultivation in the regions of Russia.

Early varieties of table beet

Early ripe beet varieties can be used in bunch and root ripeness. Bunch early and mid-early products are selected during thinning. The most suitable varieties are Carillon, Mona, Detroit Ruby 3 and other polyspermous varieties.

From the early varieties of table beets, ultra-early ripening varieties can be recommended: Red Ball (improved), Detroit, Cold-resistant-19, Bordeaux 237, and from Pablo-F hybrids.

Red ball and Detroit, sown in early spring, already after 72-75 days form root crops weighing 150-250 g with dark red soft, juicy pulp. The red ball is recommended for baby food. Detroit's early maturity allows two crops to be taken in a warm season. Keeping quality is low, so a limited amount of sowing is required.

Good in terms of quality indicators of the beetroot variety Cold-resistant-19. A mid-early variety, which yields from germination at 66-76 days. Flat-rounded, with dark red sweet, delicate flesh, it is successfully used fresh and processed. It can be used in the spring ration during a breakthrough in bunch ripeness during podwinter and early spring sowing. The variety is characterized by high cold resistance and good keeping quality.

Simultaneously with the Red Ball, you can additionally sow Bordeaux 237. In terms of their qualities, these 2 varieties are similar, but Bordeaux 237 has a longer growing season. Root crops reach technical ripeness later in 90-110 days. It is characterized by heat resistance, yield and keeping quality. Throughout the summer and autumn-winter period, the family will be adequately supplied with the necessary dietary product. Bordeaux 237 has one drawback. Root vegetables quickly outgrow and become tough. Therefore, it is better to sow them 2-3 weeks later than early varieties and grow them in thickened plantings. The early variety Egyptian flat is distinguished by good keeping quality. From mass seedlings to root crops of technical ripeness, 95-115 days pass. Forms root crops weighing 250-400 g.

Early varieties can be grown in all regions of Russia after the establishment of a frost-free period and warming up the soil in the root layer not lower than + 10 ° C.

Cold-resistant-19, flat Siberian, flat Egyptian, flat Gribovskaya A473, flat Polyarnaya K249, Podzimnyaya A474, Incomparable A463, Bonel hybrids 9805290 are more suitable for the Urals and Siberia from the early varieties.

Medium beet varieties

The growing season of mid-season varieties covers a period of 90-100 days from germination to technical ripeness of root crops. The most common varieties in the dacha economy are the Detroit and Bona varieties, which form rounded root crops, weighing 220-300 g with a smooth skin, rich red color. The varieties are distinguished by high resistance to shooting and excellent keeping quality. Differs from earlier varieties in denser pulp, which allows them to be used for long-term storage and processing. Detroit is pickleable.

Of the new mid-season varieties, the Mulatka variety can be recommended for home cultivation, which is distinguished by its tender juicy pulp that does not lose color during heat treatment. Maroon fruits weighing 200-350 g are well stored in the winter. Crimson ball and Larka have good keeping quality. It is stated that Larka has the ability to remove radionuclides from the body.

From mid-season varieties in the southern and middle regions, in the Urals and Siberia, good yields are formed of the Bravo, Mulatka, Cylindra, Pronto, Pablo, Slavyanka varieties.

Late varieties of beetroot

Of the late varieties, the Cylindra variety is grown everywhere in warm regions. The variety is characterized by elongated cylindrical root crops up to 10-18 cm long and weighing up to 180-300 g. The variety contains increased amounts of sugars and does not lose taste during heat treatment. The pulp is juicy and has a pleasant dark red color. The variety is high-yielding (up to 8-10 kg per square meter). Resistant to disease. Differs in good keeping quality.

Of the mature varieties, we can recommend the Beet Renova variety for home cultivation, which is stored practically without waste for 6-7 months. The root crop is cylindrical in shape, the pulp is pink, juicy, dense. When stored for a long time, it does not lose its taste. Forms up to 9 kg of root crops from 1 m².

Cylinder and Renova beets are not inferior in taste to varieties with a cylindrical root crop - Andromeda, Ataman, Torpedo, Tenderness, Rival. They are distinguished by high taste, good keeping quality and productivity. Resistant to variable weather conditions. Late varieties include Bikores, Egyptian flat, One-sprout G-1, which require 100 or more days to form root crops.

For podzimnya sowing, you can recommend the Podzimnyaya A-474 variety. This is a non-shooting variety and, when sown in winter, forms a very early harvest. Differs in good keeping quality, which is important for storage of early products.

Dear Readers! In the second part of the article, detailed material on agricultural techniques for growing beets at home will be offered.

• Part 1. Beets - useful properties, varieties, varieties
• Part 2. Agricultural technology of growing beets