What would you say are one of the most planted, most used, and least appreciated vegetables in our gardens? I would say beets, and here's why. They grow relatively easily, require little or no care beyond the occasional thinning, and pretty much do their own thing with little attention from us until we need them. And yet they are such a staple on the table: delicious cooked as a vegetable, perfectly piquant as a pickle, exotic and sultry as a roasted side dish, and absolutely heavenly when made into borscht! I don't think I will ever eat anything as delicious again on this earth as my Mom's borscht. On those bright summer days when she would make the first batches of soup, the kitchen was filled with that amazing aroma, and I could barely wait until we had a "sample" bowl, accompanied by melt-in-your-mouth homemade buns. Ambrosia! Heaven in a bowl!
We take beets for granted, and it's not till we see the top chefs on the cooking channel make a big fuss over fresh beets that we sit up and notice and say "wait a minute, we have those right in our back yard!".
Beets go way, way back to centuries BC, originating in the Mediterranean, then spreading to China and later to Europe and North America. Our resourceful friends the Romans used beets as a handy remedy for several ailments including constipation, fever, and wounds. Beets were seen as a good cure-all for tummy troubles of all kinds. The plant belongs to the "chenopodiaceae" family: a five dollar name for a family of plants that includes Swiss chard, the domestic beets we know and love, and sugar beets.
Beets like cooler temperatures, and are one of those plants that are on our list to plant very early in the spring. They like well drained, fairly rich soil, but they are not fussy and will do well in most soils except clay. I learned an interesting little factoid about beets: if the soil is very hard, our beets will be tough.
Beets are of course grown for the ruby-red root, but the tops are delectable as well, either fresh in salads, gently steamed as a vegetable or in stir-frys, or teamed up with other things to make delicious dishes like beetniks. The choice of varieties has gone far beyond "Detroit Dark Red", my Mom's dependable favorite. There are colorful beets like the golden-yellow beets, the pink and red bulls-eye "Chiogga", or the darkly handsome "Bull's Blood".
So I say, bravo to the beautiful beet, a boon in our gardens, and a great vegetable that we should appreciate a little more!
The Yorkton and District Horticultural Society will be holding their next meeting on Wednesday, September 21, and we'll be " going to the birds" as Mr. John Senkiw from Foam Lake talks to us about backyard birding. Everyone is welcome, and no, you don't have to be a member to come to the meeting! All you need is a love of plants or gardening and you're more than welcome! And remember, our fall plant and bulb sale is September 23 from 9:30 a.m. till 5 p.m. at the Parkland Mall.
Have a great week, and mark those dates down on your calendar!
