Beetroot is easy to sow, as long as you thin it early

Sow beetroot outdoors from late March to early August. A short row every three or four weeks gives tender, golf-ball roots all summer and autumn, rather than a glut of woody ones in August.

The thing most people get wrong comes after sowing. Each beetroot “seed” is really a cluster of two to four seeds stuck together, so every one you sow comes up as a little clump. Thin them early, or you’ll get lots of leaves and very little root.

When to sow

Sowing	When	Notes
Indoors in modules	Late February to late March	Plant out late March to mid-April
First outdoor rows	Late March to April	Use a bolt-resistant variety such as Boltardy
Main sowings	May to July	Every three or four weeks
Last sowing	Early August	Roots to lift in autumn

Early sowings can bolt, running to flower instead of making a root, if a cold spell follows. A bolt-resistant variety, or waiting until mid-April, avoids most of that.

These dates are for a typical lowland garden in England or Wales, with a last frost around 20 April. In Scotland, the north of England and frost pockets, start in mid to late April. In the south-west and in cities, late March sowings usually come up fine.

How to sow

1. Choose a sunny spot and rake the soil to a fine, crumbly surface. Ground that was manured for last year’s crop is ideal; fresh manure gives leaf rather than root.
2. Make a drill 2.5 cm deep.
3. Sow the seed clusters about 10 cm apart, in rows 30 cm apart.
4. Cover, firm gently and water if the soil is dry.

In modules, sow one cluster per cell and don’t thin at all. Plant each clump out whole, 10 cm apart, and the beetroot push each other apart as they swell. You get a handful of smaller roots from each spot.

Thinning

When the seedlings are about 3 cm tall, pull out all but the strongest at each spot. Do it early. Wait a few weeks and the roots tangle, and pulling one disturbs the rest.

The thinnings are good in salads. Later, you can thin again by pulling every other beetroot as baby roots, leaving the rest to grow on.

Care

Beetroot needs little attention apart from weeding and water in dry spells. Watering steadily matters most, as dry soil followed by a downpour makes the roots split or go woody.

Onions, garlic, lettuce, cabbage and kale all grow well alongside.

Harvesting

Roots are ready 50 to 70 days after sowing, from early June for the first sowings until mid-November. Lift them anywhere between golf ball and tennis ball size. Larger roots can get woody.

Twist the leaves off rather than cutting, about 3 cm above the root, so they don’t bleed. Beetroot is hardy to around -5 °C, so autumn sowings can stay in the ground for a while, but lift and store them before hard frosts. Kept in a box of damp sand or compost somewhere cool, they last for months.

Common problems

Patchy germination. Usually dry soil. Water the drill before sowing, or soak the seed for an hour.

Bolting. A flower stalk instead of a root, from cold early in the season. Use a bolt-resistant variety for early sowings.

Leaf miner. Pale blotches in the leaves where a grub tunnels between the layers. Pick off affected leaves. It rarely harms the roots.

Set your own frost dates on the beetroot page, or see how beetroot fits a small bed in our raised bed planning guide.