
Beets
These hardy root vegetable offer a couple of great ways to be eaten — either harvesting the greens or as whole beets.
A single beet seed pod holds up to 10 individual seeds so they will require some thinning after they are an inch or so tall.
Harvest the greens from multiple beets leaving enough to grow the beet, and you can have greens all summer long and full-sized beets in the fall.
The seeds will not begin to grow if its too cold, so adjust your planting to when the soils have gotten over 10 degrees Celsius. Or utilize one of the many soil warming methods.
Deer and groundhogs love beets, mostly the greens but will chow down on the root as well. Beets typically require little maintenance after an initial thinning and weeding. The thick leaves tend to shade out the competition when they take off.
Cylindra Organic Beet:
These beets grow long cylindrical roots to five inches or more. This makes them perfect for pickling as they slice easily, and you get more beet per se beets are root. Maturing in 70 days or so they have ample time to grow here. Planted directly in the soil when the soils warm up a bit in the spring. As with all beets, the tops are edible and quite tasty. Selective harvesting of the beet leaves as they grow will allow them to produce meals throughout their growing cycle.
Bulls Blood Beet:
These heirloom beets have been staples in many gardens. They are dual-purpose with delicious greens as well as ample roots which are sweet and uniform shape. They also boast a short growing time at between 35 days for leaves and 58 days for mature roots.
Preservation
Beets with 1 inch of the greens still attached and stored in a cool moist area in sand or sawdust will last for one to three months.
Pickled Beets are a favorite and can extend the lifespan to over a year.

Days to Grow: 50 to 70
Spacing: 9 per square foot
Effort: Minimal
Plant: at last frost
Yield: moderate
Light frost enhances flavour
Gardening Shortcut Links
- North Hardy Plants to grow
- Pre-designed garden layouts
- Gardening Basics and Resources
- Seeds available at shop:
Frost Dates and growing season
Converting a garden box to a mini greenhouse
Making a Garden Box
Planting Calculator
Garden Designer - Excel
Square Foot Gardening Primer
Growing Vertical - Trellises
The plants listed here are available at the physical shop located with the Nipigon River Bait Shop at 21 Second Street in Nipigon Ontario. Limited quantities are available, and all seeds are fresh and have been tested to grow here in NW Ontario.
- Pollock Tomatoes
- Cylindra Beets
- Butterwax beans
- Super sugar Snap Peas
- York Rutabaga
- Laurentian Rutabaga
- Purple Prince turnip
- Buttercup squash
- Spaghetti squash
- Warted green hubbard Squash
- Baby Blue Hubbard Squash
- Endeavor Squash
- Early butternut Squash
- Atlantic Giant Pumpkins
- Tromboncino Squash
- Russian Mammoth Sunflowers
- Carrots: Nantes
- Asian Green stirfry mix
North Hardy Plants

Square Foot Gardening
Information and resources for square foot gardening here in NW Ontario.

Excel Garden Planner
An excel worksheet I developed to help plan and track my square foot gardening.

North Hardy Plants
Not all plants will grow here, but a lot will.
Useful Resources
The following are additional resources and information as well as basic information for growing this and many other garden plants here in NW Ontario.
Square Foot Gardening Basics
Preserving methods
High productivity, small area


About Garden Planning
Laying out your garden and pre-planning what to plant is best accomplished over the winter months. It gives you escape from the north winds, allows for ordering of seeds and allows you to put some time and effort into laying out your garden.
Since I use the square foot gardening method, I have created a garden planner using Microsoft excel. It allows you layout your garden using the cells in excel, then based on what plants you choose it will calculate planting/harvest times, potential yields, how many seeds you will need and more.
The Garden planner is provided as is, I can and will answer questions on using it and I have made videos on using it. I am hoping to have a full updated version ready for 2019 planning season.