A fellow blogger from many years gone by who i am connected with still said something interesting a few weeks back (Yes Jess, that would be you) in regards to if we needed to eat more of what we can grow what would our food choices be like and while others listed different counties, given our zones we would be very German/Russian/Northern etc
It got me to thinking about my seed order for 2025 for the gardens and that while i am always game to push the edges of growing things for my zone, if i am really truly worried about food costs and availability in 2025 and beyond, then i need to make a list of plants that grow well, store well and can be eaten in a number of ways
First on my list without a doubt in our Canadian Zone 5a is beets! There are so many kinds of beets, spring ones that are perfect for itty bitty baby beets and their tiny green tops, golden beets, bullseye beets, round beets, and cylindrical slicer ones perfect for canning or pickling. With their fast germination rate and their hardiness to handle light frosts or in micro zoned even harder frosts. In our area, we can get three crops of beets, the early spring ones taken small and fast, with the thinning’s being done for salads or chopped into spring soups.
Late spring planted that planted right yield the canning push in mid july which is ideal as its a slower canning time, letting you put up pickled and making deep rich grated stuffed jars for winter soups, then the late planting in the first week or two of aug for the fall harvests, which is where we are right now.
These are being grown in a micro zone in the kitchen garden and they have a large full hedgerow of protection one side with the garden and then the house offering secondary wind protection along with a heat effect. They are beautiful!
I love roasting beets, whole beets, cubed and seasoned beets or as part of a veggie mix for sheet roasting, so good. Roasting brings out that deep earthy flavor that you either love or hate, i carefully put the leaves unwashed but sorted into my fridge keeper and then cut and washed put the stems in a different one. This picking of six big beautiful fall beets will serve up three different choices and uses, the beets themselves was washed, peeled (peelings go to the chickens and ducks while adore them) they were given a bit of olive oil, herbs and covered to slow roast away, then when done, butter added, everything tossed very gentle and piled into their tinfoil lid and twisted shut to let to sit for a few min in the turned off but warm oven.. till ready to serve.
Do you have a type of beet that you love growing that you think i should try? Let me know its name and type? Got a favorite beet soup recipe that you adore? that you have a link for, would love to have it and give it a try.
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Just another Day on the Farm 
I’m a latecomer to beets, but I love them too; really easy for me to grow in my very sluggy allotment in Yorkshire (UK). I usually rinse them, twist off the leaves, and plunk into my big slow cooker for a few hours till cooked, then rub the skins off while still hot (plunge into cold water first, and to cool off hands!). We generally just eat them cold, on the side of whatever is for dinner. Good on a salad too.
Also the leaves and stems: I like to chop then boil/simmer these till tender, plunge into cold water to cool for a minute or two, then drain and squeeze out as much water as possible. I season these with a vinaigrette or with soy sauce and a little vinegar and they too are eaten cold as a side dish. Both my teenager and my preschooler eat these willingly. I almost think they are better than the roots!
I do like beet salads but i have to admit that to eat them cold, i tend to like them pickled for that. i am happy to hear they grow well in your allotment and that greens and stems are eaten as well. As a child, i liked beets but not beet greens or stems, they were always only served one way, hot, overcooked with vinegar and pepper.. but now that i can control how long they are cooked and other flavors with them i enjoy them much more. I will have a recipe coming that uses the big green leaf’s that you might enjoy later this week 🙂 Thank you for your comment.
We’re having roasted beets this very weekend. 😀
Nice, they are so good!
Being in zone 3 I’ve pushed hard over the years to find things that thrive in our short season. We’re guaranteed a hard frost at least once a month. I’ve split my gardens into two – things I plant every year that I know will grow regardless and I can rely on, beets, broccoli, carrots, beans. Followed by things I’d like to have in the pantry but might not get depending on the season. I find with climate change it’s really a guessing game. Some years we get so much rain it feels very west coast. Then the fires – we’ve gone weeks where the smoke almost completely blocks out the sun and slows everything down. This year we’ve yet to see any snow, mostly rain which at this time of year is crazy – and I’ve held off pulling my broccoli because it’s still producing.
wow, your broccoli is still going, that is crazy lol I hear you on the frost and smoke, i remember the one summer in yellowknife, so much smoke for so long, the sky was like a darken haze but not for as long as you are talking about. We get the smoke from the quebec side more then our own, enough to bother me but not enough to block the sun much and none this year, so wet here. Each garden year always has its own challenges and its rewards.