LADYBUG SAYS: THIS IS THE YEAR OF THE BEAT AND COSMOS

At the beginning of each year, gardeners often wonder just what this will be the "Year Of" as declared by the National Garden Bureau. This 71-year-old organization each year proclaims a vegetable and a flower and encourages seed companies to promote garden seeds on the related selections. This year is the "Year of the beet and Cosmos".

Last year it was broccoli and nasturtium and throughout the year much space was given to the two designated plants. A little birdie has given out the information that for "92 it will be the California poppy an the pumpkin.

Beets are similar to people with eccentric behavior, the National Garden Bureau found while conducting this research. They both evoke strong feelings of love or hate. They found that people either passionately loved beets or would not eat them.

Easy to grow form seed, beet roots have a subtle earthly flavor when cooked fresh from the garden. Beet foliage is a gourmet delight commonly called beet greens. These contain healthy portions of iron, potassium and Vitamin A.

Beets easily fit into small space gardens for nutritious greens and fresh roots. Adaptable, tasty beets are a vegetable for novice and experienced gardeners.

The ancestor of today's rosy beet was a tough, white root grown for its leaves. The ancients ground the root for use as an ingredient in bone salve. A Roman philosopher of the second century A.D. wrote that beets were a remedy for snake bit.

It is said that Mangel-wurzel, a large coarse beet from Germany was sent to Martha Washington to grow in her plantation garden. This was the forerunner of the mangel beet used today for livestock feed.

In 1821 William Cobbett wrote that beets were as common in America as carrots were in England. When beets became more popular, ingenious new uses were found for them. Ladies used the juice from a cut beet to stain their cheeks.

The National Garden Bureau recommends that gardeners check seed packets and catalogs to learn which variety is suited to their area. The beet is traditionally a dark reddish purple, but Burpee's Golden is a variety with golden skin, and its yellow flesh will not bleed during cooking. Leaf miners, leafhoppers, aphids and slugs and snails may pose a problem to beets.

The beauty of freshly harvested bees is evident in the size and shapes available to gardeners.

Cosmos are the flower of the year.

Modern gardeners tend to think of cosmos as they were in grandmother's cottage garden--tall, sprawling plants that needed staking and were planted to the back of the border. Thanks to recent breeding many varieties of cosmos have been down-sized, while retaining their airy and colorful qualities.

Cosmos, like any of our war weather annuals, such as dahlias and marigolds, originated in Mexico and South America. In 1897, the plant Introduction Center of Washington, D.C., brought the cosmos north of the border, where it was known as Mexican Aster.

This flower is so easy to start form seed that even the novice gardener will be rewarded with little effort. The seeds may be sown outdoors after all danger of frost is past and the soil has warmed to at least 65 degrees. Scatter the seeds right where they are to be displayed. Rich, fertile soil is not a requirement, but good drainage is.

Seeds germinate within about five or six days. Winter weary gardeners may want to start some cosmos seeds indoors. They may be started about six weeks prior to transplanting time.

Gardeners browsing through seed catalogs will notice all of the various types, colors and heights. Parks Seed Company of Greenwood, S.C., has 12 to chose form, including the new Ladybird Series, a dwarf, 10-inch plant in orange, yellow and red.

W. Atlee Burpee & Co. of Warminster, Pa, offers several different series, including Sunny Red, the All-America Winner this year.

Sonta, a white with yellow center, growing on much dwarfed plants than any other, is one of the cosmo introductions of Thompson and Morgan of Jackson, N.J.

This sun loving annual will not produce as many blooms if grown in shade. Cosmos needs only basic care to provide a colorful abundance of blooms all summer long. They are not heavy feeders and excess fertilization will cause leaf growth at the expense of flowers.

Freshly cut cosmos blooms make a bright, airy bouquet. An arrangement of cosmos will last for several days if selected flowers have petals that have just unfolded and if flowers are cut in the morning when their water content is highest.

Plan to try some of the new varieties of the vegetable, beet, and the flower, cosmos, for the 'Year Of 1991' for your own garden.