Beet planting is carried out from early May to June. But first you need to carefully prepare the seeds. If this is not done, then germination will be low. So, two to three days before sowing, the seeds are soaked in warm water, it is best to put them in a rag bag first. They are taken out and dried during the day. Seeds should crumble in hands and not stick together.
There is another way to prepare beet seeds, it is to soak them in a specially prepared solution. The recipe is simple: 1 liter of water, 1 tsp. superphosphate, 1 tbsp. l wood ash, 1 tsp
drinking soda. 4 days before planting, seeds wrapped in tissue are placed in this solution. After soaking, they are thoroughly rinsed with running water and, covered with a damp cloth, kept in this form for at least three more days.
It is very important to know that planting beets does not require special soil fertility. An excellent crop can be obtained on almost any soil. However, it should be borne in mind that beets prefer loose soil with a high concentration of minerals. Not the best choice would be sandy, podzolic, clay soils, especially with a high moisture content. If the earth is moist and groundwater lies close to the surface, then you can make ridges or high beds. Excellent results will be achieved by planting beets on loams, sandy loams, chernozems, and of course on peatlands, after liming. This crop grows well in those places where onions, tomatoes, carrots, cucumbers, potatoes and legumes were grown before. Beets are not planted in the beds where cabbage was planted before, the yield will be low.
The soil under the beds is being prepared since autumn. It is dug shallow and loosened well. Beet is planted in soil with a pH greater than 7, if this indicator is lower, then chalk,
slaked lime or
dolomite flour is added to it
. These substances are added before digging at the rate of 1 square meter one glass. In the spring before sowing, the soil is fertilized with minerals. To do this, make a mixture of the following components: trace elements (1 tablet),
magnesium sulfate (1 tsp), wood ash (1 glass). You can use another composition: ammonium nitrate (20 grams), superphosphate (30 grams),
sodium chloride (15 grams). It is worth abandoning the use of manure as a fertilizer. The thing is that beets are able to absorb nitrates. Therefore, it is not recommended to make it in large quantities.
In general, beet planting dates are not tight, it can be planted from mid-May to June, but if you want to get an early harvest, then it is best to plant at the end of April. So that such early crops do not freeze, they are reliably covered with a film. If long-term storage of beet root crops in cellars or storages is planned, then it is planted no earlier than May 15.
Before sowing, the soil is again leveled with a rake and even furrows are made even with a depth of 2-3 centimeters. Between the rows, the distance should be at least 25 centimeters, with high germination capacity, planting beet seeds is allowed at intervals of 10 centimeters. If there is no complete confidence in the quality of the seeds, then it is better to plant them denser, and after emergence, it is easy to thin out.