Growing Beets

Forget about neat rows and regulated spacing. I planted a packet in a 2'x6' (0.7m x 2m) bed by just evenly sprinkling the seeds. Best crop ever. Just trim the big ones out. Neighbor beets get a little stressed at harvest, but they recover. The picture of the bed shows a little stress an hour after a harvest (had done 4 large harvests already).

How I cook my beets: cut root hairs from beet; wash and clean leaves. Cut stems off 2mm at beet and put aside. Cut the beets into 2mm slices.
Tenderize shredded onions in a 5-6L/Qt pan. Add crushed garlic. Add about 3 cups of water and when boiling add the sliced beets. Add about 1/4teaspoon of termeric. Add a 1/2 teaspoon of ground corriander and 1/2 teaspoon of ground dried maldive fish. Boil covered on medium for about 15-20 minutes or until the beets are tender but not mushy. While the beets are boiling, cut a few cm of the bottom of the beet leaves (where they joined the beet) and discard. You can use these if the beets were small or young. Cut the rest of the stems and leaves into 4cm or 2" lengths. After the beets have tenderized, add the stem/leaf sections to the pan and boil another 5 minutes until they limp. Gently stir the whole pot and you're done.
This goes superbly as a pair to a meat curry and lemon rice.