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Sea Beet Beta vulgaris maritima
Sea Beet Beta vulgaris maritima

Sea beet – Beta vulgaris maritima potted plant

£5.99

PLANT IN 1L POT
A useful hardy perennial alternative to chard or spinach.

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Description

Sea beet, Beta vulgaris maritima, is the wild relation of beetroot, chard, and perpetual spinach as well as sugar beet. It is a really useful hardy leafy green perennial vegetable and can be use as a substitute for spinach or chard. Although found in coastal areas, it will grow successfully in well drained garden soil.

About

Sea beet – Beta vulgaris maritima, also known as Sea spinach, wild beet and wild spinach is the wild relation of beetroot, chard, and perpetual spinach as well as sugar beet. Sea beet can vary enormously in characteristics depending on the region it is growing. It is native to Europe along the Atlantic coasts and the Mediterranean Sea and the coasts of North Africa and Western Asia, and has also naturalised on other continents.

How to grow

Sea beet prefers a sunny spot and well-drained soil with plenty of organic matter added  to it. You need to give plants about 90cm spacing, and although they are quite low growing ( about 50-80cm) the flowering stems can reach more than 1m tall. The plants are hardy down to about -20c or more. Plants can be propagated from seed, although they will cross with nearby flowering chard and beetroot so you need to be aware of this if you want to save your own seed. We have successfully taken cuttings by slicing a stem from the main plant with a little bit of root attached and potted them up, this seems to work quite well. Plants can grow from three to ten years depending on conditions.

Harvesting

Sea beet is such a useful addition to the perennial vegetable garden as leaves can pretty much be picked all the year around except when stems are flowering. You can cut the plants back in late summer to produce some fresh new growth if you wish as leaves can sometimes become bitter at that time of year.

Cooking and eating

Sea beet can be used instead of spinach or chard in any dish.

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“Thanks for everything, the info sheet was great. I planted the cuttings the day they arrived and have just multi sown the 9 star in seed trays. All very exciting, we’re now planning our perennial area.”

“You are right, perennial kale is fantastic! Thanks so much for the cuttings. I am a convert to having a corner of perpetual kale in the patch!”

“As the evening sun back lit the plants at Incredible Vegetables, I felt I was standing in one of the most important gardens of our time. Wildflowers working alongside an abundance of edimentals and perennial vegetables. A ‘food glade’ to rival the aesthetic of our greatest plant designers.”

– Jon Davies, garden designer, London Glades –

“I love your website and the work you’re doing. What you’re doing is exiting, useful, and one day will help to replace and enhance what human kind has damaged.With that our natural friends will return and we’ll be better for it.”

“Mandy, thank you. I am delighted with this plant – it is so strong and healthy and exceptionally well packaged – all done with loving care obviously. I shall look forward to having more plants from you.”

“Plants all arrived lovely and are growing well. I just wanted to say i was very impressed with the quality of the cuttings.. and its been a pleasure dealing with you. And I look forward to any purchases in the future.”

“The kale cuttings you sent survived the winter and are thriving. Thank you Mandy Barber you are the super hero of edibles, loving your work!!”

“I bought some Skirret seed’s off you last year. Well they grew and yesterday some got cooked and this message is just to say, they were delicious. Looking forward to a lot more next year. Thank you.”

“The Taunton Dean cuttings arrived a short while ago and never have I seen healthier looking cuttings! They are now firmly ensconced in some nice compost and are having a good drink. I even loved the packaging, which will be composted.”

“Hi I just wanted to let you know that I sowed half of my Caucasian spinach seeds and every single one grew, absolutely amazed, thanks for the seeds and keep up the good work.”

“Just to let you know that the lovely healthy looking plants arrived. Your plants are simply outstanding, every single tuber and plant are growing amazingly.”

“The plants arrived safely, I did not expect such magnificent specimens! I didn’t think I would be successful at stratification etc but I now have a whole bunch of Hablitzia seedlings sprouting after following your excellent advice.”

“Just to say, the Daubentons Kale is in the ground and looking well – thanks to the lovely damp compost encasing its roots…you do a good job at your end, I can tell by the way you package. Will be back for more of your wonderful perennials.”

“Thank you so much for all the vegetables, they really are incredible. I’m sure I’ve never before seen a healthier rootball than the one that arrived with our happy looking daubentons kale, and seeds and tubers are thriving thanks to all the useful information provided.”

“Thank you so much for sending such wonderful, healthy and very large plants. They are beautiful !! You packaged them so well and they arrived so quickly – I couldn’t get to the post office till the following day but they were absolutely fine. They’re now potted up and sitting in my ‘cold’ greenhouse while they adjust.”

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If at all possible please contact us by email at info@incrediblevegetables.co.uk, rather than by phone, as we can answer you much more quickly by email. 

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We look forward to hearing from you,

Mandy and Julien