Going through our storage bins of winter food, I found several (20 to be exact) beets that have begun to spout tiny little leaves. I was ecstatic! Tomorrow I'm going to plant these guys in pots and put them in a sunny window. (Well, actually, in a south facing window that would get sun if we actually had sun this time of year.) And maybe these little leaves will get bigger and turn green. Then we can carefully harvest the leaves and include them in our winter salads. I've been really hungry for fresh greens. Beet greens can sometimes be strong (my kids complain that greens taste like dirt) but we've all been longing for something fresh. So I don't think there will be any complaints (forget the salad- how 'bout fresh baby beet greens sauteed in a dollop of butter and garlic....mmmmm).
After the beets have completely stretched themselves to put out all the leaves they are going to put out before true spring, maybe it will be warm enough to put the pots of beets on the front porch. Then later in the garden. Since these beets are from last years crop, when they bolt they will make seeds. And if I'm paying attention and not running after kids or dogs or chickens or rabbits I will be able to harvest the seeds. Yea! That means that these beets might have inside them the first seeds to be saved this year. These babies will be the parents of many beets grown here at the farm.
Grow guys, grow!
Those should make some nice greens for you and good luck saving the seeds. They do kind of look like little aliens don't they.:)
ReplyDeleteI got them all planted in their individual little "pots" today. Now if we could just eke out a little sun I think these guys will take off!
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