beets can be harvested when they are large enough for your usage. Your appear large enough.

Easily. Getting late for beets in your zone as with the heat they will start developing woody cores. Mine were all harvested 2-3 weeks ago. But it depends on how you plan to use them. For making pickled beets smaller than that is better - less coarse, woody texture.

I wouldn't let them go any longer.

Dave

Not so sure about smaller is better for pickled beets or any way you use them, I let mine get to at least the size of a baseball but most of mine are about 3 to 3-1/2 inches across, We just pickled 12 quarts and I will pick some more next week, Everyone seems to love my beets so there is no problem there, You could still plant a crop now they should be ready 1st or 2nd week of September.

thanks for the advice...can anyone explain why the foliage started to wilt? I've been plucking off the worst leaves weekly but it didn't appear to have an effect on the crop.

Beets are a cool weather crop, If it is hot during the day you will see your leafs hanging over but go out early in the morning and their standing backup.

Jimmy56 doesn't indicate where he lives or his garden zone so he may still be able to grow them now where he lives or if he doesn't mind cutting out the cores. We prefer ours more young and tender.

But either way, as he said they are a cool weather crop and once the weather warms too much the core goes woody and the tops begin to wilt and die back.

Zone 6 beet season is normally late Mar to mid-June depending on the weather and then again in late August to late Oct to early Nov.

Dave

I harvested them today. They were small, about the size of golf balls. The tops looked kind of dry. Will see what my wife makes of them since I'm not a fan of beets.

Forgot to mention zone, I'm in zone 6 PA.