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Bulls Blood Beet is a striking heirloom cultivar prized as much for its ornamental deep red-purple foliage as for its sweet, flavorful roots. Ready to harvest in 35 to 59 days depending on whether you're picking baby leaves or waiting for mature roots, this variety thrives in full sun and reaches just 12 inches tall with a compact 6-inch spread. It's an older cultivar known for remarkable flavor and a color so stunning it blurs the line between vegetable garden and flower bed.
Full Sun
Moderate
2-11
12in H x 6in W
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Moderate
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The foliage is the real showstopper here. Deep red-purple leaves maintain their jewel-like color from the moment seedlings emerge through to harvest, intensifying as the plants mature. Unlike many beets grown primarily for roots, Bulls Blood delivers on both fronts: modest but uniform roots perfect for bunching, and gorgeous leaves that shine as baby greens in salads. This heirloom has been selected and refined for leaf uniformity and color, making it as reliable visually as it is culinarily.
This variety shines in two distinct culinary applications. Young leaves work beautifully as delicate baby greens for salads, where their deep color adds visual drama to composed plates. The modest roots themselves are excellent for bunching and selling at farmers markets or presenting whole at the dinner table, though they're not recommended for long-term storage like larger storage beet varieties. Both the greens and roots contribute their distinctive sweet flavor to dishes.
No timeline data available yet for this variety.
Directly sow seeds outdoors starting 1 to 2 weeks before your last frost date. Succession sow every 2 weeks for continuous harvests. Sow in fertile, weed-free soil prepared to a fine tilth.
You can harvest Bulls Blood in two ways depending on your goal. For baby greens, begin picking outer leaves once plants are established, typically around 35 days. For mature roots, wait until they reach usable size; the deep red color will deepen further as they mature. The roots are modest in size but uniform and excellent for bunching whole. Avoid harvesting this variety for long-term storage, as it's not well-suited to that purpose; instead, enjoy it fresh.
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“Bulls Blood is an older cultivar with deep roots in heirloom gardening. The variety has been preserved and refined over generations, with modern seed catalogs continuing to select for improved leaf uniformity and color consistency. It represents the tradition of dual-purpose beets, valued equally by both home gardeners and seed savers who recognize its ornamental merit alongside its culinary worth.”