When I moved here to northern Todd county (nearly 40 years ago) my neighbor warned me that I would not be able to grow beets in my garden, She said despite successfully growing them in her previous garden only a few miles away, they would not grow here. I planted them anyway, and they germinated normally, but when the first true leaves started developing, they quickly turned purple, stopped growing, and fairly soon withered and died. I have occasionally tried making a test planting over the years, but still no real success, with mostly the same results of turning purple and dying young. I began with basically pure sand whose main "crop" was sand burrs. Over the years I have improved it, adding cattle manure until I now have a very productive garden . . . but one that will still NOT grow beets. Is there some trace mineral or other remedy you think might help?