beetroot

[flopsy]

going to try and grow some beetroot next year but unsure what type to by . any advice,
only have a small area to grow in

[Kleftiwallah]

You can't go wrong with "Boltardy" tried and tested. There are some weirdies, white ones and ones with banded insides crimson and white. But as you say you only have a small area, I'd stick with boltardy.

Cheers, Tony.

[Mr Bones]

I love Woden F1. They grow big but always seem to stay tender enough to eat raw. Nice flavour too.

[solway cropper]

If you don't have a lot of space you can grow them in containers. I do that and use them as baby beets. The maincrop ones on the plot need a bit more room. I haven't found much difference between all the varieties I've tried...they're all beetroot!

[kathyd]

My Boltardy have worked well too, and you can sow them in between other things to save space. I also planted my 'thinnings', which also appear to have taken well and are growing fine - why waste a good plant if you don't need to?

[Barking Postlethwaite]

Cheap and cheerful Detroit 2 did every bit as well as a row of fancy-dan F1 hybrids for me. Unless you want a specific variety I wouldn't look beyond the cheapest packet you come across.

[lukens]

My beetroot seem to be amongst my crops least bothered by pests and weather conditions this year.

I've grown Kestrel and Golden, and also have some Chioggia on the go (they're the ones with concentric red and white bands inside - which I think were free on this magazine).

I multi-seeded them all, planting 2 seeds together at 15cm spacings (in each direction). As each "seed" can produce a few plants, this means you can get up to six beets at each station. The idea is then that the roots push apart as they grown, and it does seem to work. I then picked a few leaves for salads to start with. Then, when they got to a decent baby-beet size, I picked most, leaving one (or two, if spaced out a bit already) beets at each station (which are still growing on now).

It's a system that's worked pretty well. Its been most successful with the Kestrel, which were direct sown. The golden started off in mini coir pots, and were then planted out, pots and all; however, they'd got a bit leggy inside, and then the beets started forming as long thin things above the soil (I probably should have set them up to the seed leaves when planting out, but it was tricky with the multiple stems, and they probably would have got tangled).

It's a crop I've been happy with, and will grown again, and in bigger quantities, next year.

[cotswold]

Oh, GOLDEN every time. Yes - more temperamental but NO staining & great flavour.

But I do agree with Cylindra as a space saver.

[Bigmallly]

If space is an issue Flopsy, I would go with Cylindra.

[Florence Fennel]

I pulled about a dozen golf-ball sized beetroot yesterday, they needn't take up much room Flopsy, you an even dot them inbetween other plants. I don't like them much bigger as they often taste woody. I think they were boltardy.

[Snadger]

Thats what colour I am after a training session............

[flopsy]

thanks all for info am of to look for some seeds

[JeffUK]

After 2 seasons of failing miserably to grow anything resembling a beetroot, mostly due to the seedlings going MIA, I now always start them off in seed trays then plant them out.

Works for me, regardless of what the seed packet says!

[vegnut]

Tried all sorts, either direct sow or in modules and all were successful. Yay to beetroots. As was suggested before, Boltardy are as good as any out there, and if you go to Wilkos Lidl B&Q or any other store to buy your seeds get the cheapest, they always seem to do the trick.

[chefgage]

I usually sow mine into modules first before planting so I cb get them spaced out nicely.
I would certainly try the cylindrical type as well as the golden type. Here's my efforts.
This is about a third of my crop, all ready for pickling.