collard greens
passion fruit
spring onion
watermelon radish
Photos
Today I transplanted the cabbage and onion seedlings outside and planted seeds for: arugula, garlic (well, cloves, not seeds–forced in the fridge), mesclun salad mix, kale, cauliflower, and …
bull's blood beet
Beta vulgaris
Last edited on October 28, 2026. View history
Beet
Beta vulgaris
WD
Also known as
beetroot (EN)
table beet (EN)
garden beet (EN)
red beet (EN)
golden beet (EN)
How to sow beet: Direct seed into soil. Thin to 7cm apart when seedlings are 5cm tall.
Sun requirement for beet: Plant in Full Sun
Typically grown for its round or cylindrical taproot, the leaves of the beet are also edible. Leaves resemble Swiss chard on a smaller scale and are good sautéed. The taproot, or beet, ranges in color from deep red to gold, orange, or white and red striped. The beet has a delicious, earthy flavor with a touch of sweetness to it when roasted.
- 80
- plantings
- 13
- harvests
- 10
- seed packets
Beet facts
Lifespan
Annual
living and reproducing in a single year or less
21 weeks
median lifespan
First harvest expected
20
weeks after planting
Last harvest expected
18
weeks after planting
Height × spread
25cm × 10cmRow Spacing
10cmDays until maturity
70 days median of members' seed packetsGrown for
whole plant harvested 6 times
Optimal temperature
15–25 °C
Absolute temperature
4–35 °C
FAO EcoCrop
Optimal rainfall
600–800 mm/year
Absolute rainfall
500–1000 mm/year
FAO EcoCrop
Optimal soil pH
6–7
Absolute soil pH
5.5–7.5
FAO EcoCrop
Crop cycle
160–240 days
FAO EcoCrop
Optimal light
very bright to light shade
FAO EcoCrop
What are growing degree days?
A plant grows with warmth, not with days. A growing degree day is one day's worth of useful warmth: how many degrees the day's average temperature is above the lowest temperature the crop grows at. Add them up from planting and you know how far along the crop is, whatever the calendar says.
Say that lowest temperature is 10°C. A day averaging 17°C gives 7 growing degree days. A day averaging 8°C gives none, as it is too cold for the crop to grow. That is why the same lettuce takes about 50 days in a summer and 90 in an autumn: it needs the same total warmth either way.
For beet, the FAO EcoCrop database gives a lowest growing temperature of 4°C and a shortest growing cycle of 160 days at its best temperature, about 2560 growing degree days to a first harvest.
Where you've told us where your garden is, we use this and the weather there to predict when your beet will be ready to harvest. We don't use it for how long a plant lives or when it finishes: we go by what members have logged for that.
Growing beets
- Dig the bed fine and stone free 1 week before sowing
- Water regularly at sowing every week
- Thin the seedlings 3 weeks after sowing
- Weed between the rows 4 weeks after sowing every 2 weeks
- Start pulling young beets at first harvest
- Lift the rest of the crop 6 weeks after first harvest
How members grow beets
Sunniness
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Planted from
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Harvested for
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Varieties of beet
Chioggia beet
Beta vulgaris
cylindrical beet
Beta vulgaris
Early Wonder Beet
Beta vulgaris
golden BX mangel beet
Beta vulgaris
golden BX manglebeet
Beta vulgaris
Plant beets with
Photos
Beet crops
Beet plantings
Beet harvests
Video
Where beets grow
Only plantings by members who have set their locations are shown.
What people are saying about beets
Planting outdoors & fruit trees
by maco,
cabbages
onions
arugula
garlic
kale
cauliflowers
beets
apples
peaches
almonds
plums
Read more
Coming together
by shawnacscott,
This weekend I had two full days to really focus on the yard, and I made the most of it. With the intermittent help of several others over the course of the weekend, I got both easement planter boxes filled with compost and soil, cleaned up and weeded the alley, got the stump pulled from the coni…
lettuces
arugula
mustard
sunflowers
dill
onions
beets
tomatoes
fenugreek
bell peppers
okra
artichokes
mint
lavender
spinach
basils
thyme
parsley
zucchini
peas
calendulas
Read more
Getting ready for spring!
by maco,
I've got seeds either on-hand or ordered for just about everything I'm starting from seed this year. I've been working out what I want to plant, and this is the plan I've come up with for the 72 square feet of my backyard raised beds:
eggplants
garlic
kale
lettuces
onions
oregano
parsley
Hungarian wax peppers
bell peppers
zucchini
yellow summer squash
butternut squash
sweet potatoes
tomatoes
super sweet 100 tomatoes
chamomiles
Read more
State of the Spring Garden
by black_hound,
Finally some seasonably warm weather.
The peas are shooting up rather quickly. The lettuce has sprouted. Beets are up. Turnip are getting their second set of leaves so I will be thinning them out this week. Radish going strong. And I believe I…
lettuces
turnips
radishes
Swiss chard
beets
Read more
Inception!
by melannen,
I HAVE SPROUTS!
I'm way too excited about this for somebody my age.
There are a lot of beets coming up. In fact, way more sprouts than seeds I planted?? Do "beet seeds" actually each have more than one seed in them? Am I going to have to figure out how to thin the…
beets
beans
Read more
Seeds!
by maco,
All the seeds I ordered this year have shown up. I've got seeds for 7 kinds of dye plants, though I won't be planting all of those. Some of them get too big for the space I'm allocated.
I got Burpee's heirloom seeds for summer squash, purple-top white globe [turnip](/crops/turni…
turnips
beets
tomatoes
Read more
Growing Status
by black_hound,
I have been concerned about my pea planting because we had some unseasonably cold weather after I planted them. But I see a few sprouts from the Cascadia and Mammoth Melting snap peas. The Green Arrow shelling peas have no sprouts so I replanted them today.
[Tu…
snap peas
turnips
radishes
beets
Read more
Who's planted beets
- aszuul Garden
- CloCkWeRX 06 - Rosewater Backyard Right · Rosewater, South...
- milki Early Wonder Beet SFG 4x4 · San Francisco Bay Area
- shiny Front lawn 1 tahi · Wellington, NZ
- cas3y my old lunchbox · Whanganui a tara
Beet harvests
-
CloCkWeRX harvested 4.
almost 2 years ago
-
milki harvested 10, weighing 0.93 kg.
almost 3 years ago
-
milki harvested 10, weighing 0.085 kg.
about 3 years ago
CloCkWeRX harvested 4.
Find beet seeds
- abbz will trade nationally.
- shawnacscott will trade nationally.
- pazinjanka will trade locally.
- pazinjanka will trade locally.
- View all beet seeds 10
View all beet seeds
- Purchase seeds via Ebay
- Sign in or sign up to list your seeds to trade.
Time to harvest
If sown now, expect a first harvest in about 160 to 240 days.
From the growing cycle in the FAO EcoCrop database, which is the same wherever it is grown.
Ecological requirements
Data from the FAO EcoCrop database for Beta vulgaris L.
| Family / Taxonomy | Magnoliopsida Caryophyllidae Caryophyllales Chenopodiaceae |
|---|---|
| Killing temperature | growth: 0 °C, rest: -3 °C |
| Life form | herb |
| Life span | biennial |
| Habit | acaulescent (or rosette plants) |
| Optimal soil depth | medium (50-150 cm) |
| Optimal soil texture | heavy, medium |
| Optimal soil fertility | high |
| Optimal soil drainage | well (dry spells) |
| Optimal soil salinity | low (<4 dS/m) |
| Photoperiod | long day (>14 hours) |
Learn more about beets
Resources outside Growstuff.
