How to grow beetroot at home? All on nutrient-rich root vegetable
Beetroots are packed with nutrients and can be easily cultivated at home. Find out its benefits
Beetroot is among the healthiest vegetables available in the market. Its benefits range from providing nutrients to cutting down calories. With the onset of winter, it is time to focus more closely on this nutritious vegetable and its vast health benefits.
Benefits of beetroots
The beets contain a large variety of nutrients. These include potassium, magnesium, fiber, phosphorus, iron, vitamins A, B and C, folic acid, etc., as per Rootwell.com. So, it is essential if you are looking to have a healthier lifestyle.
How to grow beetroots at home?
To procure this food item in-house, choose a spot that gets good sunlight and has soil that drains well. According to Rootwell, you need to dig up the ground up to 10 inches and then place the seeds at least half an inch apart, while keeping the rows separated by 12-18 inches.
Once the plants start growing, trim them and keep them 2-4 inches apart. Now, beetroot, as the name itself points out, is a root vegetable. So, it is important to keep the roots of the plant well-fed. So, installing aeration tubes is a great step. Once the plant has grown fully, which takes around 50-60 days, you can dig them out and start adding them to your meals.
If you are not blessed with a big garden, you can even grow this vegetable indoors. For that, you will need modular trays, rhs.co.uk says. Put a seed cluster in every tray and place them at a depth of around one inch. When the seeds germinate, remove the weaker saplings to concentrate the growth on the well-flowering plants. But if you are ok with smaller beets, then let them stay as they are.
Once they are around two inches long, the plants need to be taken outside and planted. Don’t detach the plant from the pot. Instead, plant the whole container or remove the entire moulded soil and plant the sapling.
Initially, the plant needs to be watered regularly. Later on, it will become strong enough to resist a bit of a dry spell as well. Provide fertilisers if the plant isn’t growing well, and remove the weeds. Harvest the beetroots once they have grown big enough in size. Loosen the soil and carefully remove the roots. The super-nutritious food is now ready to be eaten – raw or cooked – as per your liking.
