by Kriss Erickson

Created on: June 01, 2008   Last Updated: June 02, 2008

Many common garden vegetables have more that one usage. Being practical-minded, I try to grow as many dual-purpose vegetables as I can.

BEETS: CULTIVATION

Beets are a wonderful example. Their red to gold, vitamin-rich tubers are a wonderful addition to raw salads, or can be boiled, steamed or broiled to make salads. Beets thrive in rich soil with lots of humis (peat moss or broken down grass clippings that add lightness to the soil). In heavy soils, adding peat moss and sand will give your beets a lovely soft bed to grow in. Beets are easy to grow. The seeds are cold hardy, so beets can be planted as early in the spring as the soil can be worked. Beet tops appear days after planting. The beet tops are, of course, an edible part of the beet plant, the other part being the more commonly used beet root. I usually wait to use the beet tops until the beet roots are big enough to pull. But if your beets are growing too close together, you can use the small beets you pull as you thin the rows in soups and stews. Beets mature in 45 days or so, making it possible to have several crops each season.

USING BEETS

Small raw beets can be eaten with the skin on. Larger beets need to be peeled before adding them to a salad, as the skin, though usually thin, can be tough. Cooked beets need to be peeled, but any method of cooking renders the skin soft. One of my favorite ways is to blanch the beets by briefly cooking them in boiling water (about 5 minutes usually does the trick). The skins slip off, leaving a mostly hard inner vegetable that can be roasted. If you prefer to roast your beets before you peel them, wash them well, place several whole beets on a sheet of aluminum foil, drizzle a teaspoon of olive oil over them and close the aluminum foil tightly over the beets. Place them in a preheated 400 degree oven for about 45 minutes, until soft. Allow them to cool, then use a paring knife to remove the softened skin. The beets are ready to be added to salads or any other recipe you like.

Beet greens are the second element of this dual purpose vegetable. Beet greens are tender and mild tasting, excellent for use in salads, soups or stews. Or steam them for 5 - 7 minutes and eat them plain. Beets are high in iron, giving added reason to add them regularly to your diet.

GROWING ANISE

Anise is a lovely plant that produces white bulbs at ground level and feathery green, fragrant foliage above. Anise is actually a multi-purpose vegetable. The bulbs are crunchy and slightly sweet, with

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