First harvest of Beetroot

I took a look at the Alto F1 Hybrid beetroot this morning, and while some of the roots don't look up to much, some of them were showing quite a lot above the soil, as in the picture below.

Alto F1 Hybrid beetroot at 10 weeks

It's been 10 weeks since I planted the beetroot, and I've read guides saying they shall be ready for harvest after 72 days, so I thought I'd uproot a few of the largest to see how far down under ground the roots went.  Especially as some of the leaves are looking a little worse for wear - here's a photo of the beetroot plants from above.

Alto F1 Beetroot as seen from above

You can see a lot of marks on the leaves, and some going very brown.  I thought, therefore, that it was well worth picking a few to see how they are doing.

This is the result...

Harvested Alto F1 Beetroot after 10 weeks

You can see from the picture exactly how much of the beetroot was sticking out of the ground, and how much was below.  In truth, I'm a little disappointed as I was imagining great big roots burying down, and the result isn't great.  They are about two inches long.  I'm not sure how long the beetroot should be, but I was hoping for a bit more.  I'll leave the remaining beetroots in the ground for a lot longer, as these were the biggest of the plants.  I'll next harvest in two or three weeks and hope that the roots are a lot longer.

Now I just need to decide how to cook the beetroot.  I was hoping to pickle it, but there doesn't seem sufficient to allow that.

Boltardy Beetroot

This is the second beetroot variety I planted, the Boltardy Beetroot.  They went in on 12th April, and seedlings had shown themselves by 20th April.  So now three weeks in, and they are starting to grow stronger.

These differ from the other variety I'm growing (the Alto F1 Hybrid beetroot) and these should be small and round.  Reading other sites, it seems i can pick a few when they are small as "baby beets" and then let the others grow on to a larger size.  

3 week old beetroot boltardy seedlings

Beetroot Alto F1 Hybrid

The Alto F1 Hybrid beetroot went in around 6 weeks ago, and is seemingly growing nicely.  This variety, should give long tubular type roots.  I'm also growing the Boltardy beetroot which should be more like traditional beetroot in being small and round.

6 week old Alto F1 Hybrid beetroot seedlings

I had a go at thinning some of these plants this week, and was expecting some small roots, but they had absolutely nothing there at all, just a small spindly white root, which was disappointing.  Hopefully they will fatten up soon, or else i have discovered the only variety of beetroot that gives no fat roots.