Crapaudine beetroot

[Small pumpkin]

Has anyone grown crapaudine beetroot?
I've just seen it on a cooking program. cooked very slowly in beef fat. It looked so beautiful I'm tempted to try growing it. Which is a massive U tern . I wasn't going to grow beetroot this year.

[Snoop Puss]

Yes. It was delicious. I grew it as an overwintering variety. I was a bit alarmed, as they looked quite a size and I was expecting them to be woody. But not at all. Some friends of mine who pride themselves on their vegetable growing and boasted of their beetroot were taken aback at how good they were.

I've not cooked them in beef fat, just boiled and roasted.

This is a nice blog piece about them:
http://leslieland.com/2012/07/crapau...reckoned-with/

She writes that she had low germination rates, but I had no problems. I also left them in the ground all winter. It gets very cold here, but they were OK.

I'm growing them again this year. They get a big thumbs-up from me.

There are various sources in the UK. I got my seeds from Thomas Etty. They have a really nice selection of seeds but they're a bit slow on delivery...

Edited to add: I've just reread the blog piece. I'm surprised by the difficulties she had growing them. I did virtually nothing to mine, but sow, water, harvest and eat. They're one of the easiest crops I've ever grown.

[Guest]

I tried but they didn't germinate and what did didn't get to any size

[Snoop Puss]

Gosh, NG. That's a shame. Wonder why I had such luck. I've bought my seeds from a different source this year... Hope it does as well as Thomas Etty's.

[Small pumpkin]

Thanks snoop.
I had a very quick look at the interweb last night for seeds. Could only find them in one place. Will have another more detail look today. I also liked the fact ( after my quick interweb search) they had a long harvesting period.

Think I'm willing to risk the potential low germination. The beetroot on tv last night was grown in Yorkshire. So weather conditions aren't to dissimilar to here ( cold & damp ).

NG where did you get your seeds from ?

[Snoop Puss]

I've just had a look at Thomas Etty's website. I see they now have a minimum order (quite high).

[Small pumpkin]

I've just looked and they were saying unavailable.
I can still only find one place that has them.

[lottie dolly]

been looking as well,seems dobies site has crashed out on me.erm cancel that got it back

[Small pumpkin]

That's the only place I've found them lottie.
Still haven't pressed the order button. But they are in a shopping basket

[lottie dolly]

bakers creek/realseeds have them,BUT,they are not in uk and no idea what the translation is of the money,you now realize what the next thead will be,grow this one with me,if seeds can be got,seems some talk about a french connection,so are there any places their got any mmmmm.

[Small pumpkin]

I'm with you lottie. I prefer to by seeds from uk supplies.

There may well be a grow beetroot with me thread starting

[Snoop Puss]

I'll join a beetroot thread. I think I've got four varieties I want to grow this year, including Crapaudine for overwintering.

If you can't find any, I could split my packet, send some to one of you and you share them between you. I won't want the whole packet this year.

Mind you, just so's you know, I bought the seed from a French supplier.

[Thelma Sanders]

been looking as well,seems dobies site has crashed out on me.erm cancel that got it back

I ordered some quite expensive for 100 seeds, £3 but as I wanted some other seeds as well, I did order them.

I've just had a look at Thomas Etty's website. I see they now have a minimum order (quite high).

I thought that as well, not good when you only want a few things. I thought the same about Realseeds when they started doing the same thing - not all of us want to order more than a couple of packets

[veggiechicken]

https://www.growfruitandveg.co.uk/gr...oot_86836.html

The name puts me off - even if it means Toad in French.

[Snoop Puss]

Years back, when I placed my first order with Thomas Etty, they charged by weight for international deliveries. In the end, I chose quite a few things, including broad beans and peas, and the postage they charged me was still less than their standard rate for UK delivery at that time. The seed prices are OK. My real problem with them was the time it took them to dispatch orders. It's a while since I last did.