[missmoneypenny]

I love beetroot but never seem to grow enough. Just wondering how many successive crops people have managed to grow? Last year I did 2, probably due to poor planning. I have sowed the 1st lot in my shed and plan to do a sowing at the beginning of each month, if I go till July that will be 5 crops. Would love to hear how others grow it.

[Anton]

I grew several rows last year.
 Starting in April, I chitted them on tissue paper in plastic boxes first then sowed the sprouting seeds in rows topped off with potting soil. I continued to sow one or two rows twice a month.  I sowed a final row when the drought was at its height in the first week of August and there was no water left in the rainwater barrels. I watered the row and placed a plank on top to keep the seeds moist. They did come up but it was too late for them to grow to any decent size.

Put lots in the freezer and picked them all before the frost and placed them in the fridge. They kept for ages. We used them for cooking in different types of meals and made lots of pickled beetroot.
Years and years ago I used to keep them in the cellar in buckets of sand but they seem to keep just as well in the fridge.

[missmoneypenny]

Thanks anton, haven’t tried chitting, I’ll give that a go.

[coldandwindy]

Also never tried chitting beetroot. Will give it a go, thanks.

[Potty Plotty Lotty]

I start them off in modules and tend to do about 3 sowings in half sized seeds trays with 20 cells.

20 cells mid-March-plant out early May
20 cells mid-April-plant out end of May
40 cells end-May-plant out mid-June.

I don't thin and just plant the whole cells out 20-30cm apart when it all holds together and is slightly root bound. I carefully harvest one of the clump and allow the ones left behind to grow on to a larger size.

That keeps us going!

[Anton]

You can use the thinnings to plant elsewhere. They look a bit bedraggled for a few days but they usually manage to survive.
The drought-resistant variety I sow is "Egypt'. I don't think any of them bolted last year even though it was torrid and I had little water for them. I did put straw around them all before watering though.

[Snow]

I just do two sowings, one in late February with a bolt resistant variety like boltardy or pablo f1, plant out early april then I'll harvest them usually in early June through to july. Means i can follow them with something else like salads. They keep OK somewhere cool and I'll make pickle from them and use them fresh. Then I'll make another sowing in late june for autumn and winter beetroot. You can do any variety then and they stand frosts down to -3c or so without damage. They'll go mushy much lower than that though. But they do keep really well in my cold garage.


I'll sow them in modules inside, then put them in the greenhouse as seedlings. They survive frost well, but I'll hold back putting them in the greenhouse early march if there is a heavy frost forecast like this year we went down to -6c in mid march so I brought them back inside for that.

[JayG]

Not a big fan of beetroot, perhaps because my first encounter was with the pickled variety, and I can only remember the fumes! 

Grew some mixed varieties last year (red, yellow, striped) - actually quite liked them, and was even more surprised to find that a few I'd overlooked were still perfectly edible this January having been left in the ground all winter.

[Aunt Sally]

I like to grow ‘Alto’ in my Salads Trough.  Space the seeds out and no need to thin as they only have single seeds rather than a number of them like most others.  It’s deep red and tasty.  Grate raw with some lemon juice for salads, but Worzel likes it cooked and pickled.

[Grubbypaws]

I grow Alto as well. Because of their long shape little thinning is necessary as they gently push out to grow next to each other. Last year I sowed direct in my raised bed and also started some earlier in modules under glass. Those sown directly quickly caught up with those sown in modules and if anything grew better so this year I have just sown directly.

I just do one sewing and that lasts me until autumn as they keep so well in the ground if banked up. The remainder I freeze.The temperatures are too low where I live to consider planting for a winter crop.