Echter's Plant Finder

Description:

A fast growing, early baby leaf variety; green leaves with deep red petioles and veins grow in upright, compact plants; baby beet greens can be added to soups and stews or added to spring mix; will not form usable beet root

Edible Qualities

Fresh Start Beet is an annual vegetable plant that is typically grown for its edible qualities. The oval green leaves with distinctive dark red veins are usually harvested from early summer to early fall. The leaves have a pleasant taste and a soft texture.

The leaves are most often used in the following ways:

• Fresh Eating
• Eating When Cooked/Prepared
• Cooking

Planting & Growing

Fresh Start Beet will grow to be about 10 inches tall at maturity, with a spread of 6 inches. When planted in rows, individual plants should be spaced approximately 6 inches apart. This fast-growing vegetable plant is an annual, which means that it will grow for one season in your garden and then die after producing a crop. Because of its relatively short time to maturity, it lends itself to a series of successive plantings each staggered by a week or two; this will prolong the effective harvest period.

This plant is typically grown in a designated vegetable garden. It should only be grown in full sunlight. It does best in average to evenly moist conditions, but will not tolerate standing water. It is not particular as to soil pH, but grows best in rich soils. It is somewhat tolerant of urban pollution. This is a selected variety of a species not originally from North America.

Fresh Start Beet is a good choice for the vegetable garden, but it is also well-suited for use in outdoor pots and containers. It is often used as a 'filler' in the 'spiller-thriller-filler' container combination, providing the canvas against which the larger thriller plants stand out. Note that when growing plants in outdoor containers and baskets, they may require more frequent waterings than they would in the yard or garden.