🥕
Root vegetables
Beetroot
Both the root and the leaves are edible, so nothing goes to waste.
Get your planting dates
This guide covers how to grow, harvest and keep beetroot, deliberately without sowing dates,
because the right date depends entirely on your climate zone. GardenBuddy's planting calendar
covers all seven Australian climate zones and will tell you exactly when to sow where you live.
Growing
Full sun, loose fertile soil, consistent moisture. Each 'seed' is actually a small cluster, so seedlings often emerge in clumps and need thinning.
Common problems
- Boron deficiency causing internal black spotting on poor sandy soils
- Leaf miner damage on the greens
- Bolting if seedlings experience a cold snap early on
Harvest
Roots are usable from golf ball size upward, don't wait for maximum size, flavour and texture are best picked young to medium. Leaves can be harvested continuously.
Preserving this crop
Best suited to:
Canning & BottlingRoot Cellaring & Long StorageFermenting
Seed saving
Difficulty: Hard. Biennial and wind-pollinated, crosses with silverbeet and other beet varieties. Needs a cold period to flower, a multi-season, advanced project.