Easy Edibles

Beets are by far my favorite plant to grow. I know, a bit weird, but they just make me laugh. And I’m not lying to you on this, really, I laugh when I see them growing. The beet is not only one of the most flexible vegetables I’ve ever come across, it leads a double life. At first it is a leafy green, allowing you to cut tender beet greens from it throughout the summer (it cooperates as long as you agree to leave uncut at least two large leaves). Then when late summer comes, if you let it alone and stop cutting the leaves, it takes on an identity as a root vegetable, producing a brightly colored and tasty beet in late summer and well into late fall. Beyond this double life, the beet is so flexible that it is equally comfortable growing in a container (alongside shorter rooted items like lettuce and marigolds) as it is in a raised bed or traditional garden plot. Likewise, the large dark green leaves can be used to beautifully fill holes in a perennial bed, alongside other annual flowers. Overall, I just love this plant: fun, flexible, leads a double life, and tasty – what else could you ask from a vegetable?