Planting guide

When to plant beetroot

Easy roots plus edible leaves; each seed cluster sprouts several plants. In Melbourne it goes in Aug–May.

Start as: Seed, sown in place
Ready in: 7–11 wks
Spacing: 10 cm
Depth: 2 cm
Sun: Full sun (6+ hours)
Water: Regular
Effort: Easy
Frost-tender: No

When it goes in

● means beetroot can go in that month, ○ means wait. Worked out from each town's climate zone and season, the way planting guides do it. Pick your town for the full list for that month.

Australian towns and cities
Town	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec
Sydney	●	●	●	●	●	○	○	●	●	●	●	●
Melbourne	●	●	●	●	●	○	○	●	●	●	●	●
Brisbane	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●
Perth	●	●	●	●	●	○	○	●	●	●	●	●
Adelaide	●	●	●	●	●	○	○	●	●	●	●	●
Gold Coast	●	●	●	●	●	○	○	●	●	●	●	●
Newcastle	●	●	●	●	●	○	○	●	●	●	●	●
Sunshine Coast	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●
Canberra	●	●	●	●	●	○	○	○	●	●	●	●
Central Coast	●	●	●	●	●	○	○	●	●	●	●	●
Geelong	●	●	●	●	●	○	○	●	●	●	●	●
Wollongong	●	●	●	●	●	○	○	●	●	●	●	●
Hobart	●	●	●	●	●	○	○	○	●	●	●	●
Townsville	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●
Cairns	○	○	●	●	●	●	●	○	○	○	○	○
Toowoomba	●	●	●	●	●	○	○	●	●	●	●	●
Darwin	○	○	●	●	●	●	●	○	○	○	○	○
Ballarat	●	●	●	●	●	○	○	○	●	●	●	●
Mandurah	●	●	●	●	●	○	○	●	●	●	●	●
Bendigo	●	●	●	●	●	○	○	●	●	●	●	●
Launceston	●	●	●	●	●	○	○	○	●	●	●	●
Mackay	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●
Rockhampton	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●
Coffs Harbour	●	●	●	●	●	○	○	●	●	●	●	●
Blue Mountains	●	●	●	●	●	○	○	○	●	●	●	●
Bunbury	●	●	●	●	●	○	○	●	●	●	●	●
Bundaberg	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●
Alice Springs	●	●	●	●	●	○	○	●	●	●	●	●
Mildura	●	●	●	●	●	○	○	●	●	●	●	●
Port Macquarie	●	●	●	●	●	○	○	●	●	●	●	●

Around the world
Town	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec
Auckland	●	●	●	●	●	○	○	●	●	●	●	●
Wellington	●	●	●	●	●	○	○	●	●	●	●	●
Christchurch	●	●	●	●	●	○	○	○	●	●	●	●
London	○	○	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	○
Manchester	○	○	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	○
Edinburgh	○	○	●	●	●	●	●	●	○	○	○	○
Dublin	○	○	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	○
New York City	○	○	●	●	●	●	●	●	○	○	○	○
Los Angeles	○	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	○
Chicago	○	○	●	●	●	●	●	●	○	○	○	○
Seattle	○	○	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	○
Austin	○	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	○
Toronto	○	○	●	●	●	●	●	●	○	○	○	○
Vancouver	○	○	●	●	●	●	●	●	○	○	○	○
Cape Town	●	●	●	●	●	○	○	●	●	●	●	●
Johannesburg	●	●	●	●	●	○	○	●	●	●	●	●
Singapore	●	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	●	●	●	●
Mumbai	●	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	●	●	●	●
Paris	○	○	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	○
Berlin	○	○	●	●	●	●	●	●	○	○	○	○

How to plant beetroot

Soak seed overnight, sow 2 cm deep.
Thin clusters to the strongest seedling.
Keep soil evenly moist.
Pull at golf-ball to tennis-ball size.

Beetroot varieties

Classic varieties are the reliable, widely grown ones. Adventurous ones are heirlooms, odd colours and rarities.

Detroit Dark Red Classicheirloom · storage · 8–11 wksRound, deep red roots; the benchmark
Crosby's Egyptian Classicheirloom · fast · 7–10 wksFlat, early roots; also good for leaves
Cylindra Classicstorage · sweet · 9–11 wksLong cylinders for neat slices
Chioggia Adventurousheirloom · colourful · 8–10 wksPink-and-white candy stripes inside
Burpee's Golden Adventurouscolourful · heirloom · sweet · 8–10 wksGolden roots that don't bleed
Bull's Blood Adventurouscolourful · heirloom · 8–10 wksDark maroon leaves for salad and sweet red roots
White Albino Adventurouscolourful · sweet · 8–10 wksGhostly white roots, sweet and mild

Where to buy seeds

Search on Seeds of Plenty Search on Happy Valley Seeds Search on The Diggers Club Search on Amazon

Shop links may earn us a commission. It never changes what we recommend.

Shops shown are for Australia. The chooser picks shops for your country.

Good companions

Onion, Kale, Bean

Beetroot by month

Jan · Feb · Mar · Apr · May · Jun · Jul · Aug · Sep · Oct · Nov · Dec

More to plant

Potato · Carrot · Radish · Turnip · Parsnip · Swede

Not sure beetroot is right for your space? Answer a few taps and see everything that can go in this week.

Find what else you can plant now