How to grow Beet

Beta vulgaris · beetroot, garden beet

A cool-season root vegetable, usually deep red and sweet. It takes light frosts but not hard freezes, and can be sown in spring or for an autumn crop.

Quick facts

Type	Vegetable
Family	Amaranthaceae
Light	Full sun
Soil pH	6–7
Frost	tolerates light frost
Soil for sowing	from 7 °C
Germination	10 days
Seedlings ready	28 days
Sowing to harvest	50 days
Where it grows	Greenhouse, Open ground, At home

When to plant

Sow for seedlings about 5 weeks before planting out.

It tolerates light frost: plant out in open ground about three weeks before your last spring frost.

In an unheated greenhouse everything moves about three weeks earlier.

The first harvest comes about 50 days after the shoots appear.

Frost dates · When to plant

Care

Greenhouse

Stage	Watering	Temperature	Feeding
Germination	every 2 days	—	—
Growth	every 4 days	—	nitrogen, 14 days into the stage
Harvest	every 5 days	—	—

Open ground

Stage	Watering	Temperature	Feeding
Germination	every 3 days	—	—
Growth	every 7 days	—	nitrogen, 14 days into the stage
Harvest	every 7 days	—	—

At home

Stage	Watering	Temperature	Feeding
Germination	every 2 days	—	—
Growth	every 3 days	—	nitrogen, 14 days into the stage
Harvest	every 4 days	—	—

Growing notes

Light

Prefers full sun but tolerates partial shade with 4–6 hours of direct light.

Soil

Deep, well-drained, sandy loam with organic matter, pH 6–7; avoid tight clay and waterlogging. Too much nitrogen gives lush leaves and small roots.

Care

Sow 2.5 cm deep and thin seedlings to 5–10 cm apart. Keep the soil evenly moist; dry soil makes roots woody and uneven watering splits them. Side-dress with nitrogen once plants are 8–10 cm tall. Pull the roots from golf-ball size; they taste best at 4–7 cm across.

Pests and diseases of Beet

Sources

Figures checked against these sources.