Beta vulgaris • Open-Pollinated • Heirloom

JOY MAX SCALE ✦✦✦✦✦

Bull’s Blood Beets are beloved for their leaves as much as their sweet roots. They can be harvested very early and then throughout the season to add color, flavor, and vitamins to your plate. The actual beet root is almost a bonus. They also look so stunning you’ll want to plant them somewhere prominent in your garden.

✦ The leaves are glorious to behold. Gourmet and nutritious. Stunning in salads.

✦ Excellent growth and vigor

✦ So beautiful in the garden you’ll want to plant it where it can be seen and enjoyed.

✦ Can handle shade and produces well even in low light conditions.

✦ Great companion plant for almost everything.

✦ All parts of the plant are edible. You can eat fresh, sauteed, roasted, or pickled.

✦ Magnesium-rich leaves also make great mulch & compost.

Basic Growing Information

Direct sow ½” deep. The wrinkled “seedball” usually contains two to four viable seeds, making it necessary to thin to 4” spacings. Sow new beet seeds every 3 weeks for a continual harvest. The leaves are edible as well.  

Tips for Growing Beets

• The soil should be as loose, rich, and well drained as possible, so that the root can grow freely, at least 10”-12”. Raised beds and big fabric grow bags are ideal.

• Sow at a depth of 4 times the size of the seeds and expect germination in 10-15 days

• Beets should be direct sown for best results. 

• For optimal germination, soak beet seeds overnight before planting.

• Create a 1 inch trench in the soil and drop the seeds about 2-3 inches apart. This will give them room to grow. Cover lightly with soil and water gently. Keep moist until you they sprout. Gradually reduce watering after germination. 

• It’s important to thin them to 4” apart if you want them to reach their full size. Cut them at soil level rather than pulling to avoid disturbing the keepers. The thinned seedlings are super gourmet. You can start harvesting true leaves after a month. Their high magnesium content makes them great garden mulch, especially for brassicas.

• Space out your plantings every 2-3 weeks to keep them coming through spring. Try different varieties to see which you like the most.

Companion Planting

Beets love brassicas, a great interplanting. They also do well with beans, peas, all aliums, mint, borage, and Swiss chard. Lettuce can do well interplanted with beets as their shallow roots don’t compete and they crowd out weeds. You can also plant them with radishes that will loosen the soil and be ready to harvest just as the beets start to develop.

Seed Saving

It’s easy to save seeds from open-pollinated beets. The tricky part is that they are biennial, so they flower and go to seed the spring after you plant them. I’ve never let them grow that long. They will cross-pollinate with chard.