Sowing Beetroot

[wetandcold]

I love beetroot and want to have another stab at growing it this year. The last two years have been failures (the few roots that I had were the size of small marbles...).

When is the best time to sow them and does anybody have any tips to help?

I will be growing them in a south-east facing raised bed that has a pretty good mix of compost / manure and soil.

Thanks!

[wetandcold]

[tim]

I usually pre-germinate in damp tissue. And then grow on in plugs. The Golden ones are poor germinators so double up.

And plant (or sow) 1" deep.

[asbean]

Thanks for the tip, Tim.  The only time my beetroot were successful was the first year I tried them - just shoved them into the last piece of ground (which hadn't been touched for years), cleared a few weeds and hey presto - we had beauties.

Will try pre-chitting and planting in cells.

:) :)

[Tee Gee]

My way; http://www.thegardenersalmanac.co.uk/Data/Beetroot/Beetroot.htm

[kt.]

Sow one seed every 1-2".  As they germinate and grow,  pull every second one as baby-beet and leave the others to grow on.  You can repeat this process once more if you want large beetroot from the same row.

[N8R]

must just be lucky ,chuck em in and watch em grow.... ;D

[RSJK]

I must be like N8R the same with me just sow and wait....i do not bother to thin out as beetroot will grow on top of each other quite successfully.

[PurpleHeather]

I don't know what you did wrong. They have always grown easily for me too.

I have seen them growing in several way, all of which were successful.

Some people start them off in toilet roll tubes or fibre pots, 1 per pot, others sow them in a line then pick out the little ones, leaving the others to grow on.  One person I know puts 5 seeds in a pot, then plants these together when the roots start to fill the pot. They grow in a tiny mound but all seem to get to a decent size.

Beetroot are  big seeds and are great for children to put in. Just a nice size for tiny fingers to space them out in a small trough, I every couple of inches, cover with a little topping of soil, water and leave.

If all else fails, make a drawing of the person you hate most and burn it over the row of sown seeds uttering some devilish chant and see if that helps.

[wetandcold]

thanks for all of your great advice guys! I think I will do a little experiment and try some direct sowing and some pre-germinated seeds.

Having read all of your comments though I do suspect that the most successful will be PurpleHeather's incantation method. My only slight concern with this would be what happens to the person in the picture after you've burned it... ;D

[sawfish]

Its the only veg that I'm useless at growing. It must be a soil thing, does beetroot need a specific mineral or something?

I have strong clay soil thats now quite loamy but still heavy'ish. I've been advised to add salt in the past as they're originally a seaside thing.

[shirlton]

When we had a plot on clay soil we used to make a furrow about 4" deep and fill it with all purpose compost. They grew really well. Now we are on sandy soil we just sow em straight into the ground

[tim]

How do I get a tabulation to print out as such??

Crops   32ºF   41ºF   50ºF   59ºF   68ºF   77ºF   86ºF   95ºF   104ºF
Asparagus     0     0    61(53)    80(24)    88(15)    95(10)    79(12)    37(19)     0
Beans, lima     0     0     1    52(31)    82(18)    90(7)    88(7)     2     0
Beans, snap     0     0     1    97(16)    90(11)    97(8)    47(6)    39(6)     0
Beets     0    53(42)    72(17)    88(10)    90(6)    97(5)    89(5)    35(5)     0

Shows that even Beet likes soil a bit warmer than ours is at present. 42 days to germinate. So wait a bit?

[growmore]

Avoid a fresh manured bed.  If you dont they will be Mishapen.
Rake in  some blood fish and bone where they are going .
Sprinkle some salt sparingly along the drill you have made just before you sow them. I think you will find they grow better for you then .