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Vegetables · biennial grown as an annual
Beet from seed
Beta vulgaris · also searched as beets
- Germination temperature
- 65 to 85°F (18 to 29°C)
- Minimum soil temperature
- 40°F (4°C)
- Sowing depth
- ¾ to 1 in (19 to 25 mm)
- Days to germinate
- 5 to 14 days
- Light
- Cover the seed; darkness helps
- Before sowing
- Nothing needed
- Sow outdoors
- 4 to 0 weeks before the last frost
- Spacing
- 4 to 6 in (10 to 15 cm)
Your dates from your last frost Seed not coming up?
Sowing
Sow direct from a few weeks before the last frost. Each beet 'seed' is a corky cluster that makes several seedlings, so thin.
Care and transplanting
Thin to the spacing as soon as seedlings are 2 in tall; snip rather than pull. Beet greens are edible.
Problems
Several seedlings per seed is normal, not a problem. Poor roots usually mean crowding. Brown spots on leaves are leaf spot.
Saving seed
Beets flower in the second year and cross with chard and sugar beet. Isolate varieties if you save seed.