How to Grow Beetroot from Seed (Beta vulgaris)

Beetroot is one of the most forgiving root crops you can grow from seed. It germinates in cool soil, grows in almost any sunny bed or deep pot, and gives you two crops from one sowing: sweet roots and tender leaves you can cook like chard. Sown little and often from spring into July, it keeps the kitchen supplied from early summer until the last stored roots run out in late winter. This guide covers how to grow beetroot from seed (Beta vulgaris): when and how to sow, why every "seed" gives you a clump of seedlings, thinning and watering, choosing a variety, and when to harvest and store the roots.

• Sow Mid-April–mid-July outdoors · March under cover
• Spacing Thin to 10 cm · rows 30 cm apart · 5 cm for baby beets
• Harvest 8–12 weeks after sowing · golf-ball to tennis-ball size
• Soil Sun, firm and stone-free · pH 6.5–7.5 · no fresh manure

Beetroot and chard: one species

Beetroot, chard, sugar beet and fodder beet are all the same species, Beta vulgaris, bred over centuries from the wild sea beet of European coasts. Chard was selected for its leaves and stems, beetroot for its swollen root. That shared origin explains a lot. Beetroot copes with a little salt and a little drought, prefers soil close to neutral, and is a biennial: it makes a root in its first year and flowers in its second, unless a long cold spell tricks it into flowering early. Our Swiss chard guide covers the leafy side of the family, and the Beta vulgaris collection holds both.

The family also has an unusual seed. What you sow is not a single seed but a small, corky fruit holding two to four seeds. That is why beetroot comes up in little clusters, however carefully you space it, and why thinning is part of growing it.

When to sow beetroot

Beetroot germinates once the soil reaches about 7 °C, but it is slow and patchy until the soil is nearer 10 °C. In most gardens, that means outdoor sowings from mid-April. Sow a short row every three to four weeks until mid-July, rather than one long row in spring. You get tender, golf-ball-sized roots all summer instead of a glut of woody ones in August; our guide to succession sowing explains the rhythm. The sowings from late June to mid-July are the ones to grow for winter storage. They mature in autumn, when the weather is cool enough for them to keep.

For an earlier crop, sow in March in modules under glass or a cloche, using an early variety such as 'Detroit Early'. Keep them above about 10 °C. Early sowings that sit through several weeks of cold can bolt, because the plant reads the cold as a winter and flowers instead of making a root. Our vegetable sowing calendar shows where beetroot fits alongside your other crops.

How to sow beetroot seed

Beetroot does not need rich soil. It needs a bed that is firm, finely raked and free of large stones, in full sun or light shade. Do not add fresh manure: it makes the roots fork and gives you lush leaves at the expense of the root. Ground that was manured for a previous crop is ideal, which is why beetroot sits with carrots, parsnips and onions in the roots-and-alliums bed of our crop rotation plan.

Soaking the seed in warm water for an hour or two before sowing softens the corky coat and speeds up germination. Then choose a method. In rows: sow 2 cm deep, with a seed cluster every 5 cm, in rows 30 cm apart. In modules: sow three or four clusters per cell, and plant each clump out whole, 25–30 cm apart. A multisown clump grows four or five roots that push each other apart, and you never need to thin. On seed tape: lay the tape in a 2 cm drill and cover it, for perfect spacing with no fiddling. Seedlings appear in 10–14 days.

How to grow beetroot, step by step

1. Prepare the bed Fork, remove stones and rake to a fine tilth. No fresh manure. Lime acidic soil to about pH 6.5.
2. Soak the seed (1–2 hours) Warm water softens the corky clusters and gives a quicker, more even emergence.
3. Sow 2 cm deep (mid-April–mid-July) A cluster every 5 cm in rows 30 cm apart, or multisow modules under cover.
4. Keep the soil moist until they emerge A crust on dry soil can stop seedlings breaking through. Water the drill before you sow.
5. Thin to one seedling per cluster At 2–3 cm tall, snip the extras at soil level. Thin again to 10 cm when the roots are marble-sized and eat the thinnings.
6. Water evenly and weed by hand A good soak every 10–14 days in dry weather. Hoe carefully: a nicked root bleeds and can rot.
7. Pull from golf-ball size Start after 8–12 weeks. Keep pulling alternate roots so the rest have room to swell.

Watering, splitting and white rings

Beetroot copes with dry spells, but it does not like swings from dry to wet. A root that stops growing in a drought and then gets a soaking can split, and uneven growth shows up inside as pale rings between the red ones. That is called zoning, and it is harmless, though it looks odd on the plate. Steady moisture prevents both. A thorough soak every week or two in dry weather, plus a mulch along the row, is better than a daily sprinkle; our watering guide explains why. Too much nitrogen, too much shade or crowding gives you plenty of leaf and very little root.

Choosing a variety: shape and colour

Round beetroot is the classic: quick, reliable and good at any size. Long varieties such as 'Cylindra' grow down rather than out, so they suit deep soil and give even slices for pickling and roasting. Flat, early types such as the old 'Egyptian Flat Round' and 'Egyptian Turnip Rooted' sit on the surface and mature fast, which makes them useful on shallow soil and in pots.

Harvesting and storing beetroot

Pull beetroot whenever the roots are big enough to use. Golf-ball size is the sweetest; tennis-ball size is the useful maximum. Roots left to grow much larger turn coarse and woody. To harvest, hold the leaves at the base and twist them off, leaving about 5 cm of stalk. Do not cut them with a knife, and do not trim the long tap root, because a cut beetroot "bleeds" its colour and sugar and soon goes soft. The young leaves are good to eat, cooked like spinach or raw in salads.

Roots from summer sowings keep well. Lift them in October or November, on a dry day and before hard frost, and store them in boxes of barely damp sand or compost at 0–4 °C. They keep for four to five months, as our guide to storing root vegetables explains. Beetroot wants damp storage; onions, which share its bed, want the opposite, as our new guide to storing onions shows.

Common mistakes

• Not thinning: every cluster gives several seedlings, and crowded roots stay small.
• Sowing everything at once: one big row in April means a glut in summer and woody roots by autumn.
• Fresh manure in the bed: it gives forked roots and lots of leaf.
• Cutting the leaves off: twist them instead, or the root bleeds and spoils.
• Letting the roots grow too big: anything beyond tennis-ball size turns tough.

Frequently asked questions

Why is my beetroot all leaves and no root?
Usually because the seedlings were not thinned, so each plant had no room to swell. Too much nitrogen, heavy shade and very late sowing have the same effect. Thin to 10 cm and avoid fresh manure.

Why did my beetroot bolt?
A long cold spell after an early sowing can make the plant behave as if it has had its winter, so it flowers in its first year. Sow outdoors from mid-April, or start early sowings under cover where it stays above about 10 °C.

Can I grow beetroot in pots?
Yes. Round and flat varieties do well in a pot at least 20–25 cm deep. Sow a cluster every 7–8 cm and keep the compost evenly moist. Our container gardening guide covers compost and feeding.

Can I save my own beetroot seed?
It takes two years, because beetroot only flowers in its second season, and the wind-borne pollen crosses freely with chard and other beets. Most gardeners buy fresh seed and save their energy for easier crops; see our seed saving guide.

A few short rows of beetroot, sown a month apart, give you something to pull from June until the frosts and a box of roots in the shed for winter. If you are new to vegetables, start with our beginner's guide to growing vegetables from seed. Browse the beetroot, organic beetroot and root vegetable collections, or all our seeds, and keep our growing guides to hand.