People often ask how we get our beetroot so big, sweet and deep red. We'd love to say it's some clever trick, but the truth is a lot less glamorous. It's horse poo.
Why horse poo works
Beetroot loves soft, crumbly, rich soil that holds moisture but still drains. Well-rotted horse manure does all of that. It loosens heavy soil so the roots can swell into nice round bulbs, it feeds the worms, and it helps the beds stay moist between waterings.
Horse manure also contains boron, a trace nutrient that beetroot especially needs. Without enough boron, beets can develop dark, corky patches inside the root (gardeners call it heart rot), so a good dose of manure helps keep them firm and sweet all the way through.
Why horse manure breaks down so quickly
Horse manure rots down much faster than many other manures, which means it's ready for the garden sooner. There are two reasons for that:
- A simple digestive system: unlike cows and other ruminants, which have multiple stomach chambers that extract almost every bit of energy and nutrients from their feed, horses pass their feed through relatively quickly.
- Plenty of food for the soil life: because of that, horse manure still holds lots of undigested plant fibre, cellulose and organic matter. Bacteria, fungi, worms and insects find it easy to eat, so they break it down fast and turn it into rich, crumbly goodness for the soil.
The key word is still well-rotted. Fresh manure is too strong. It can burn young seedlings, and too much fresh nitrogen gives you a jungle of leaves sitting on top of a tiny root. Let it break down until it's dark, crumbly and smells like earth, not like a stable.
How we do it
- Prepare the bed early: dig the rotted manure through the bed a few weeks before sowing, so it has time to settle in.
- Sow direct: beetroot doesn't love being moved, so we sow the seeds straight into the bed.
- Thin them out: each seed is really a little cluster, so several seedlings pop up together. Thin them so each beet has room to grow (and toss the baby leaves into a salad).
- Keep the water steady: even watering helps stop the roots going woody or splitting.
- Mulch: a layer of straw keeps the soil cool and damp and the weeds down.
The best bit: pulling them up
There's nothing quite like grabbing a handful of those bright pink stems and feeling a fat beetroot pop out of the soil.
Don't throw the tops away, either. The leaves and stems are lovely sautéed with a little garlic, just like silverbeet.
From the bed to the salt jar
Some of our beetroot goes straight into the kitchen, and some of it gets dried, ground and blended with dill and salt to make our Beetroot & Dill Salt. It's beautiful sprinkled over eggs, salmon, roast veggies or a fresh tomato salad, and that colour is all beetroot.
Shop our Beetroot & Dill Salt →
Sown, grown and packaged with care.
Lorraine & Cathy