[GrannieAnnie]

Not necessarily.

You can get monogerm varieties.

Beetroot, Solo

and Monoruba, but the ones I tried didn't grow very big.

[Mrs Bee]

Snap Granny.

I have tried some of the mono germ ones but I go back to the Bolthardy.
It just seems you get more from your seeds.

I just love beetroot, especially with oily fish, and it makes great chutney.

[GrannieAnnie]

Yes, boltardy and detroit 2 are the ones I usually grow for Brian.  He doesn't like the look of the other colours!  Beetroot is red he says! 

[HuwG]

When thy start growing I take the largest ones as baby beets and then let the others grow on. Normally I can get 3 good crops out of 1 bed.

For slicing I use cylindrica or alto

[sunshineband]

Not necessarily a cluster of 3 or 4! 

Thank you 

[Wiltshire Worms]

im growing a monogerm variety this year....solo f1 is the variety....im going to have a row of boltardy as well..mrs worm is vegatarian and eats beetroot by the ton...

[Madame Cholet]

No.  It gets composted

You don't have to sow three at each station. This is only done because the sower is hedging his bets and thinks he will get one good plant out of three.  These days though beetroot seed is excellent and I always get a near perfect germination rate but I only sow one seed per station and sow wide enough apart so they don't need thinning

Alternatively you can sow single seeds in modules and then plant out at the correct spacings

I do both of these and fill in the gaps with the ones from the modules

You'll be fine. Don't worry  

[rowan57]

I like big beetroot, so I sow 1 seed every 3-6 inches (this isnt an exact science ) and thin to one seedling per spot. Any gaps get a new seed.

[Sparkyrog]

I stick to boltardy and cylindra .

[maxie]

I stick to boltardy and cylindra .

Me too i think boltardy is the best for flavour myself,i always thin them out as well.
I always grow a couple of 5 feet rows under a cloche,they grow much faster than in the open and i get an early crop from them.

[upert]

I once grew a beetroot that was almost the size of my head.

[Mrs Bee]

and did it taste good or was it a tad tough and fibrous?

[Ema]

Wow I had no idea each see produce several plant good to know!

[maxie]

and did it taste good or was it a tad tough and fibrous?

Big fibrous with a white middle id think,i used to chop mine up like that straight to the compost heap 

[snowdrops]

Wow I had no idea each see produce several plant good to know!

Not quite unfortunately,some seeds are sort of glued together & if they all germinate you get 3 or 4 beetroot plants that eventually produce 1 beetroot each,that's when they push each other out of the way as others have said. It's left over from when germination rates of them were not so good.