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Carolina Gardening

Transplant Detroit Red Beet in Cold Frame?

sqftgarden_in_wnc

17 years ago

I am new to gardening but have been doing a lot of reading and research online and have dabbled a bit in previous years. I started around a half dozen beets approximately 10 days ago indoors on a windowsill that gets partial sun. They are beginning to germinate. Would it be safe to transplant them into a cold frame with the addition of a lot of manure or compost for warmth? Has anyone done this and actually gotten beets and not just the greens? Any suggestions for making this work? I have not yet built the cold frame, so any suggestions regarding that are also welcome. The low around here is 20-30s and highs around 40-50s right now. It gets a little colder than that here but last week, for example, it was in the 70s and 60s. You just never know from week to week.

I am growing garlic in a container and that's going very well. Pretty happy about that- my husband loves garlic and now I can always have a fresh supply.

Thanks in advance for your help/suggestions!

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Comments (3)

Dibbit
17 years ago
Beets don't like to be transplanted very well; they have a tap-root, sort of, which doesn't do well when bent. That said, I have transplanted thinnings in the summer and had them do OK - the younger the better, within reason, and make a long hole so the tap-root gets down into it. I think you might mostly get leaves over the winter, which you can pick from as they grow, and then you would get beets in the spring. Of course, they might just go straight to bolting, but I don't know for sure.

You can make a temporary cold frame of hay or straw bales, and an old window or sheet of clear plastic. You would have to weight the plastic so it wouldn't blow away, but ... Just lay the bales out in the shape you want, or the shape your 'cover' will go over, and then add the manure at the bottom, and the compost on top. Beets don't really like fresh manure (none of the root veggies do) so you will have to put in a fair bit of soil or compost to keep the roots out of the manure layer. Considering it, I might be inclined to put the cold-frame in the sunniest spot I could find - which means you will also have to open the top on a really sunny and warm day, so the plants don't cook - and forgo the manure in the section you plan for the beets. You can use the bales as a coldframe/protected area over the next year, or just add them to your compost pile, broken up, or, use them for mulch in the veggie garden, OR, leave them in a pile to break down themselves over the next year or so. Straw bales are less likely to add weed seeds to your compost and garden - unless your compost pile gets REALLY hot, in which case, never mind.
rhizo_1 (North AL) zone 7
17 years ago
I was reading recently how a group of CSA (community supported agriculture) growers tried transplanting their beets because they were having such a time with fire ants in their direct sow beds. Much to thier surprise, it worked! They sow them and grow them in flats in the greenhouse and transplant them when they get large enough! They were able to space their beets properly (for beets and not greens), and get an earlier crop, to boot.

Who would have thought it?
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sqftgarden_in_wnc
Original Author
17 years ago
Thanks for helping! I think I may put them downstairs in my basement in larger containers under a light. Anymore info appreciated. Thanks!

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