Beetroot

Beta vulgaris

Beetroot gives you sweet roots and young leaves for salads. Each seed is really a cluster that comes up as several seedlings. Pull out the extras early, or let them grow on as a small group for baby beets. Sow a little every few weeks from spring to midsummer. The roots from summer sowings are the ones that keep.

Looking after it

Water: Beetroot needs normal watering. Water seedlings in dry spells. Once the plants are settled, they need water only every 10 to 14 days in dry weather. Too little water makes the roots woody and uneven watering splits them. Too much gives you leaves instead of roots. Feeding: Its food needs are average. Soil improved with compost needs no extra feed. If the plants grow poorly, give them a high-nitrogen liquid feed. Keep weeds away, because they take food and water.

Harvest and keeping

Once the roots reach golf-ball size, pull every other one and leave the rest to grow. Don't let any get bigger than about 7 cm across. Twist the leaves off instead of cutting them, so the roots don't bleed. Twist off the leaves 2.5 cm above the root. The roots keep 2 to 4 months in a bag with holes in the fridge. They keep as long in boxes of dry sand in a cool shed.

What can go wrong

Bolting. After hot, dry weather or a very early, cold sowing, the plants flower instead of swelling their roots. Choose bolt-resistant varieties and don't sow too early.
Leaf miner. Pale brown blotches appear where small maggots feed inside the leaves. Pinch off the affected leaves. The roots are rarely harmed.
Downy mildew. In damp weather, pale yellow patches appear on the leaves with grey-purple mould underneath. Pick off the affected leaves and leave room between plants for air. Water the soil, not the leaves.

Growing facts: RHS, UC ANR and seed-company sowing guides. Beetroot care: RHS. How many to grow: Kansas State and University of Missouri extension. pH: University of Connecticut and University of Maryland extension. Keeping: University of Missouri extension.