Beets are planted from the beginning of May to June. But first you need to carefully prepare the seeds. If this is not done, then germination will be low. So, two or three days before sowing, the seeds are soaked in warm water, it is best to put them first in a rag bag. During the day they are taken out and dried. Seeds should crumble in your hands and not stick together.
There is another way to prepare beet seeds, it consists in soaking them in a specially prepared solution. Its 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 cloth are placed in this solution. After soaking, they are thoroughly rinsed with running water and, closed with a damp cloth, kept in this form for at least another three days.
It is very important to know that planting beets does not require special soil fertility. An excellent harvest can be obtained in 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 ground is wet andgroundwater lies close to the surface, then you can make ridges or high beds. Planting beets on loam, sandy loam, chernozem, and of course on peat bogs, after their liming, will bring excellent results. This crop grows well in those places where onions, tomatoes, carrots, cucumbers, potatoes and legumes grew before. Beets are not planted in the beds where cabbage was planted before, the harvest will be low.
The soil for the beds has been prepared since autumn. It is shallowly dug up and loosened well. Beets are planted in soil with a pH greater than 7, if this figure is lower, then chalk, slaked lime or dolomite flour are added to it. These substances are added before digging at the rate of one glass per 1 square meter. 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 cup). You can use another composition: ammonium nitrate (20 grams), superphosphate (30 grams), sodium chloride (15 grams). It is worth refusing to use manure as a fertilizer. The thing is that beets are able to absorb nitrates. Therefore, it is not recommended to apply it in large quantities.
In general, beet planting dates are not compressed, 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 securely covered with a film. If along-term storage of beet roots in cellars or storage facilities is planned, then it is planted no earlier than May 15.
Before sowing, the soil is once again leveled with a rake and even furrows are made up to 2-3 centimeters deep. Between the rows, the distance should be at least 25 centimeters, with high germination, planting beet seeds is also 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 thicker, and after germination, just thin out.
