Why are my beetroot small, woody or running to seed?

Beetroot is one of the easiest crops to grow badly, because the seed behaves unlike any other in the vegetable garden and because the roots go over quickly once they pass their best size. Neither of those is obvious the first time.

Step by step

1. Understand what you are sowing.Most beetroot seed is a corky cluster containing two to four seeds. Sow one 'seed' and you get a clump of seedlings competing with each other. Monogerm varieties, which produce one seedling per seed, avoid this.
2. Thin early and decisively.As soon as the seedlings are handleable, thin each cluster to one, and thin the row to about 10cm apart for a normal beetroot. Leaving them at 3cm is the commonest reason for a row of golf balls.
3. Sow into warm soil.Cold soon after sowing is the classic bolting trigger. Wait for soil that has properly warmed in spring, or sow a bolt-resistant variety if you want an early crop.
4. Keep the moisture even.Beetroot that dries out and is then watered heavily grows in rings, goes woody and splits. Steady watering and a mulch produce tender roots.
5. Pull at the right size.Most varieties are at their best between a golf ball and a tennis ball. Beyond that they get coarse and woody. Pull alternate roots as they reach size and let the rest grow on.
6. Do not over-feed with nitrogen.Beetroot in rich nitrogen produces splendid leaves and modest roots. A soil in reasonable heart is enough; no fresh manure.
7. Sow successionally rather than all at once.A short row every three or four weeks from late spring to midsummer gives tender roots continuously, instead of a row that all goes woody together.
8. Use the leaves.Beetroot leaves are good eating — treat young ones as salad and larger ones like chard. Taking a few leaves per plant does not harm the root.

Tips

• Beetroot transplants better than most root crops, so module-sowing three or four seedlings per cell and planting the whole clump 20cm apart is a good technique — they push each other apart as they swell.
• Golden and striped varieties are milder and do not bleed, which suits people who dislike the earthy flavour of red beetroot.
• Beetroot stores well in a box of just-damp sand in a cool shed, with the leaves twisted off rather than cut.
• Twist the tops off rather than cutting them — a cut stem bleeds and the root loses colour when cooked.

Common mistakes

• Not thinning because the seedlings 'came up thinly' — Each seed cluster produces several seedlings. A visually thin row is still a crowded one.
• Leaving roots in the ground to get bigger — Beetroot goes woody with size in most varieties. Bigger is not better past about tennis ball size.
• Sowing in early spring into cold soil — It is the classic bolting trigger and produces a row of flower stems and no roots.

If it doesn't work

Questions people ask