Spring in the California Garden

Thank you Mother Nature for a winter of rain.  Plants and shrubs are blooming prolifically this spring.

The garden called this weekend and it was time to put some tomatoes into the garden.  Two beefsteaks (one an heirloom) and San Francisco Fog. 

In doing some prep work, I discovered a very large beet!  Here it is root and all.  Look at those beautiful greens.

Beautiful beet from the garden atop a planting of thyme.

She's Got the Beet

I usually don't feature myself in blog photos...but dear hubby took a photo of me with one of my beets and well, here it is.

Beet--What Happened to the Red?

I had a successful planting of beets in the fall.  So successful, I decided to try to get another planting in.  So my beets have been in the ground, diligently growing. 

This morning I deemed the largest one ready for roasting.  Plucked from the ground, I broke off the leaves and heavy roots in the garden and popped them into the composter.  Into the house to remover the residual roots and leaves, wash off any remaining dirt, drizzle with olive oil, wrap in foil and into the oven at 400 degrees for a roasting.  (The skin is removed easily after roasting.) 
 
Imagine my surprise when my sharp knife cut through the flesh and revealed not a dark red beet, but a white beet with red markings.  It reminded me of a posting on Sunset magazine's blog about radishes with inconsistent coloring.

No one at Sunset had an answer.  Here are the variables which I can think of which might have caused this problem. 

1. Too cold
2. Too hot
3. Too rainy

I'm choosing too cold.  Some gardeners in zones which allow plants to live through the winter might be aware of cat-faced tomatoes.  I think just as a tomato which sets and grows in too cold of temperatures distorts, the beet does a similar distortion by not having consistent coloring. 

Any thoughts?
Follow up photo of beet after roasting. I am inclined to believe I have a different variety than the seed description.

Beets--Harvest and Roast

One of the great perks of the home garden is the harvest and cook advantage.  While gardening around noon on Wednesday, I saw several of my beets were large enough to harvest.  I plucked them from the ground, tore off the leaves and tossed into the composter*.  Next I washed them at the kitchen sink, cut off the roots, and placed on a piece of aluminum foil.  Drizzle with a little olive oil and into the toaster oven for 25 -30 minutes until they were tender when pierced with a fork.   Notice I didn't peel the beet.  The peeling is done post-roast.  With paper towel in hand, a slight rub and the skin falls into the paper towel.  Slice, salt, pepper...Lunch!

*someday I will try cooking the leaves.

Onions and Beets

I planted some green and red onions for my fall planting. I decided there was too much wasted space between the rows. My solution was to plant some beets. Everything seems to be doing quite well.

The Beet Goes On

My winter garden has been quite prolific this year. I have tried some new items which I have not grown before. Because I love beets, I gave them a try. Here are two beets which I plucked from the ground this week. I am going to roast them and serve on a salad of mixed greens and goat cheese.