Harvesting beets

It's been a lot of fun to have decent beets.  Our mountain raised beds (filled with compost) are ideal;  I've never managed to have much luck growing beets in the piedmont, even with heavily amended soil.

But we've been enjoying beets (and onions and garlic from the piedmont vegetable beds) -- hard not to like freshly harvested beets and their greens.  Yum.  Here are two views of the same bunch, directly after harvest (hmm, and just prior to being part of our dinner).

beets, onions, and garlic

beets, fresh from the garden

Growing beets

I've been delighted to have robust-looking beets growing in my raised beds in the mountains.  I definitely haven't been successful growing beets before. 

They need neutral soil, a deep bed for the roots to develop, and plenty of moisture, not always easy to provide in the acidic soils of the Piedmont, where I've been growing most of our vegetables.

So, I'm happy to have harvested a few 'first' beets, two 'regular' and one golden.

They were delicious!