Spacing & sowing

Plant spacing

3.9 in

In-row spacing

3.1 in

Between rows

11.8 in

Square-foot density

9 per square

Sow depth

0.8 in

Calendar (from your frost dates)

Sow indoors

21 days before the last spring frost

Sow direct

14 days before the last spring frost

Plant out

at the last spring frost

First harvest

55 days after the last spring frost

Harvest ends

7 days after the first fall frost

Growing

Type

Vegetable · Grown as an annual

Botanical family

Chenopod (beet & chard family)

Sunlight

Full sun to part shade

Watering

Moderate

Soil

Light, fertile, well-drained

Feeding

Bulbs & roots

Frost tolerant

Yes

Cool-season crop

Yes — takes a second fall window

Season

Cool Season

Harvest type

Single Harvest

Start from

seed

Growth stages

• 0 d Sow seeds
• 14 d Germination
• 70 d Harvest

Harvest

When

Pull baby beets at golf-ball size from about 8 weeks after sowing; maincrop roots reach cricket-ball size at 12–16 weeks. Sowings stand well in the ground through autumn; lift before hard frosts.

What to look for

Shoulders push visibly above the soil — harvest at 4–7 cm diameter for the sweetest, most tender roots. Much bigger and they turn woody with pale internal rings; leaves staying small and dull can also signal roots are done growing.

How to harvest

Grasp all the leaf stalks at the crown and pull with a twist; ease with a hand fork in heavy soil. Twist the tops off 3–5 cm above the crown — cutting them, or nicking the root or its "tail", makes it bleed juice and go pale when cooked.

How often

Harvest-thin along the row, taking the largest first so the rest swell. Young leaves can be picked sparingly (a leaf or two per plant) as salad or chard-substitute without harming the root.

Storing the crop

Unwashed, twisted-topped roots keep months in boxes of damp sand in a cool shed, or 2–3 weeks in the fridge. Preserve by pickling in spiced vinegar or roasting and freezing; the tops are eaten fresh like spinach within a day or two.

Pests & problems

• Leaf miners Larvae that tunnel pale wandering trails or blotches inside the leaf itself. Pick off and destroy mined leaves; damage is usually cosmetic.
• Slugs & snails Ragged holes and silvery trails on seedlings and soft young growth, worst in damp weather. Use beer traps, wool pellets, or torchlight hand-picking; keep beds clear of daytime hiding places.
• Birds Pigeons strip brassica leaves; other birds take fruit, buds, and seedlings. Netting fixed taut over hoops is the only reliable protection.

Garden allies

Beneficial predators that hunt this plant's pests — grow their favourite flowers nearby to recruit them. ★ companion plant

• Beneficial nematodes Steinernema & Heterorhabditis spp.
  Hunts Slugs & snails

  Microscopic worms watered onto damp soil that hunt down soil-dwelling grubs and release a bacterium that kills them within days. Timing is the whole thing: warm, damp soil and a small target grub, which means late summer for most of what they are used against.

• Centipedes Chilopoda
  Hunts Slugs & snails

  Flat, fast, one pair of legs to a segment — and a predator, unlike the slow round millipede it is constantly confused with. It hunts slugs, cutworms, springtails and woodlice by night under mulch and stones. Learn the difference and leave this one alone.

• Frogs & toads Anura
  Hunts Slugs & snails

  A resident toad works the beds every night for slugs, cutworms, and weevils. Recruit them with water — even a sunken basin pond — plus damp shade and an upturned-pot toad house; skip the slug pellets that poison their prey.

• Garden birds Passeriformes
  Hunts Slugs & snails

  Both things are true: birds strip your currants and a brood of blue tits takes several thousand caterpillars out of one fruit tree in a fortnight. Net what you must and welcome them everywhere else — a nest box near the apples is worth more than a spray.

  Plant nearby EchinaceaElderberryEnglish hollyGoldenrodRudbeckiaSunflowerTeaselViburnum
• Ground beetle Carabidae
  Hunts Slugs & snails

  Fast, glossy night hunters that patrol the soil surface for slugs, cutworms, and root-fly larvae. Give them daytime cover — thick perennial edges, stepping stones, a log — and skip the tillage that wrecks their burrows.

  Plant nearby LavenderMintThyme
• Hedgehog Erinaceus europaeus
  Hunts Slugs & snails

  A European animal, and worth saying so plainly: there are no hedgehogs in North America, and the ally that does the same night shift here is the toad, the opossum or the ground beetle. Where they do occur, cut a gap in the fence and skip the pellets.

• Parasitic wasps Braconidae & Trichogramma
  Hunts Leaf miners

  Tiny, stingless wasps that lay eggs in or on caterpillars, aphids, and moth eggs — the white cocoons riding a hornworm are their calling card, so leave that caterpillar be. Umbel flowers with shallow nectar keep the adults fuelled.

  Plant nearby CilantroDillFennelLovageParsleySweet alyssumYarrow
• Rove beetle Staphylinidae
  Hunts Slugs & snails

  Slim, quick beetles with short wing cases that hunt in soil and litter, taking root-fly eggs and larvae, fungus-gnat larvae, and mites. Mulch and undisturbed ground keep them resident year-round.

  Plant nearby MintThyme
• Salamanders & newts Caudata
  Hunts Slugs & snails

  Damp-loving hunters of slugs, worms, woodlice and beetle larvae that spend the day under a log or a stone and work the beds at night. Companions to the toads: they want the same damp shade, the same log pile, and the same absence of slug pellets.

• Snakes & lizards Colubridae & Phrynosomatidae
  Hunts Slugs & snails

  A garter snake works the beds for slugs and voles and a fence lizard clears grasshoppers off a sunny wall. Almost every snake a gardener meets is harmless and useful; give them a log pile, a warm flat stone and a bit of cover and they stay.

Germination & growth

Germination temp

50–77°F

Min soil temp

45 °F

Photoperiod

day neutral

Companion planting

Good neighbors

• Kohlrabi Living mulch
• Bok choy Living mulch
• Shallot Repels pests
• Cabbage
• Broccoli
• Lettuce
• Garlic
• Cauliflower

Keep apart

• Runner bean Climbing beans and beetroot stunt one another.