Last Fall, I planted beets with the intention of harvesting them during the Winter months. The idea is to make your garden into a kind of root cellar to store the beets that you harvest directly from the garden as needed. This process is called overwintering and can be used for beets, carrots, brussels sprouts and other cold hardy vegetables.
One of my favorite beets is a variety called Chioggia. This beet is both delicious and beautiful -- When you cut into a fresh Chioggia you see concentric circles of red and white. As much as I like them, Chioggia beets can get a little woody when over wintered and so I tried other varieties this year to see what works best in my garden.
One variety I tried is called Flats of Egypt and I'm happy to report that I find them to be a great overwintering variety. Flats of Egypt produce sweet flattened roots that are about 3 inches in diameter. These beets mature in about 50 days so plant them in the fall or late summer depending on your climate.
The best way to cook beets is to wrap them in aluminum foil and bake them in a pre-heated 400 degree oven for about 1 hour. When the beets are done, let them cool; the skins should just slide off.
Flats of Egypt produce beautiful foliage that's a combination of green, maroon and red. We keep the beet root for ourselves and pass along the tops to our flock of chickens. They greedily devour the leaves and the resulting eggs yolks take on a deep orange-yellow color from the beets.
You can buy Flats of Eqypt beet seeds from Baker Creek Seeds, Park Seed Company, and Territorial Seed Company.
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