Beets:
- Why you should grow it
- Can ‘pop’ in beets almost anywhere
- Does need good sun, but will grow in partial sun

- The leaves are also edible!
- Leave them in the ground until you’re ready to eat them
- Pick them through the fall and winter
- They can survive light frost
- They grow quickly
- You can get a spring crop and a fall crop
- How to start seeds
- Needs consistent moisture to sprout
- Can start indoors with containers that you can directly plant
- Toilet roll
- Peat / Coconut coir pots
- Be careful to transplant as the root is the main edible part
- They like cooler soil to germinate
- Shade the soil or plant under taller plants if you’re planting later in the season
- Tips for growth
- Thin out seedlings when they start to sprout
- good spacing is essential for bigger beets
- Plant alongside brassicas, bush beans, corn, garlic, kohlrabi, leeks, lettuce, and mint
You can even use mint leaves as mulch
- Avoid planting near pole beans and field mustard
- Harvesting
- Loosen the soil around the beet
- Depending on the variety, they can be from 6″ to 12″ in diameter
- Pull from the roots of the leaves
- Saving Seeds
- You’ll have to wait until the following year to save the seeds, they are biennial
- Leave the beets in the ground adding a floating row cover, mulch and anything else to insulate the beets
- You can carefully dig them out and store in sand in a cool, dark place – a root cellar is ideal, hence the name!
- Replant beets or remove insulation in the spring
Beets will flower and seeds will be ready to harvest in late spring