The Best Vegetable To Grow If You're A Lazy Gardener

Are you looking to immerse yourself in the joys of gardening but without too much heavy lifting? Well, this vegetable offers a great way for you to get started with your veggie-growing adventure. Beetroot is a lazy gardener's best friend. That's because it's exceptionally easy to grow. You just plant your seeds, water them, and pull them up in a few months when they're ready to be eaten. Beetroot can even be grown indoors.

You'll need a container with adequate drainage, one that is 10 inches deep and at least 3 inches wide for a single plant. As long as you place this pot in a place that gets a good amount of sun, you should be able to grow some nice plants. And you don't have to worry about it as this root veggie is rarely disturbed by pests that can harm your plant's growth. In addition, beets can withstand frigid temperatures and are known to be immune to pathogens that cause blight. So, once you put the work in, there should be little outside influences to disturb your progress.

To plant beets, you'll want to pick a spot that is sunny for at least six hours a day. Almanac says that your soil should be fertile and have a pH between 6.0 and 7.0, as your beets won't do well in acidic environments. Make sure the area is tilled so that there aren't any rocks or big clumps that could hinder growth. Dirt should also be loose and drain easily.

Beetroot should be planted during the spring as soon as the soil is warm enough for you to dig in. This should be when the weather is about 50 degrees Fahrenheit. You can keep planting more beets in two to three-week spans until mid-summer so that you have a successive harvest. Be sure to stop planting before temperatures reach 75 degrees.

Remember that beet seeds contain two to four seeds within them. So, you'll have to germinate your seeds and then thin the seedlings to allow them to grow properly. Start your seeds in one-inch deep soil planted 3 to 4 inches apart from each other. Make sure to keep your soil moist during the germination period. When they sprout up at about 4 to 5 inches tall, "thin" them. Go in with a scissor and cut off excess leaf shoots at the base of the plant so that only one remains per plant. You can eat the little leaves that you chop off. This will give you one beet per plant.

Once your plants have been thinned, Almanac suggests giving them about 1 inch of water per week. Your soil should be kept moist. You can also add mulch if you choose. If you need to weed, do so carefully not to disturb the beet's root, which doesn't go down that deep. You can forgo fertilizer if you wish.

You should be ready to pull up your beets in about two months or 55 to 70 days. The smaller the root, the tastier the beet. Larger size beets tend to be less tender. Disturb the soil around your plant so that it can be easily pulled from the ground.

Now you have some delicious and nutritious veggies to enjoy. Beets will stay at peak freshness for five to seven days in the fridge. However, beetroots can last up to three months if you use cellar storage, freeze, or can them.