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Beetroot

Beetroot – Detroit (Autumn)

£3.99

Out of stock

Super tasty and trusty variety
This is a super tasty, popular variety of beetroot that produces smooth skinned, dark red, large vegetables. They are best grown in a polytunnel or greenhouse when planted in the autumn, for the extra warmth.

Number of plants: 10

Variety: Detroit (organic*)

In the kitchen: This variety of beetroot is great for roasting or you can pick them a little earlier as baby beets and use the leaves in stir-fries or salads. Delicious!

Delivery Info: Available to order now for delivery between September and October. Please see FAQs for up-to-date delivery info.

Planting/Growing Advice: Plant in autumn approx 10cm apart in raised beds, traditional veg patches or in pots and planters. Best to grow in a greenhouse/polytunnel.

When to harvest: Harvest as baby beets before the first frosts if growing outside. If growing in a greenhouse, they should be ok in the ground until you want to use them.

*Transplants suitable for organic growing.

beetroot

Choose a sunny site

Beets are best grown in a sunny spot with well-drained, fertile soil.

beetroot

Grow in raised beds, traditional plots or containers/planters

Beetroots are easy to squeeze in wherever you have space. They don’t need much depth for their roots, so can even be grown in a shallow container. If you are growing them in pots, make sure they have about 15cm space each.

beetroot

How far apart?

Plant beetroots 10-15cm apart

beetroot

Keep soil moisture consistent

They need water, but not too much. Try not to let the soil dry out or fluctuate between being very dry and very waterlogged – During dry spells, water well, two or three times a week.

beetroot

Weed between plants

Use an onion hoe to carefully weed between plants, without disturbing the beetroot themselves.

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When to harvest

Beetroot is quite quick to grow and can be harvested a few weeks after planting. The best thing to do is check one of your beets when you think they’re ready, approx 4-5 weeks after planting. If you can’t see the crown of the root above the soil, then carefully dig one up with a garden fork, loosening the roots before you pull it up to check the size. Anything between ping pong ball size and cricket ball size is good. The leaves are edible too, use them as you would spinach/chard.

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Storing beetroot

Beetroot stores well over winter. The easiest thing to do is pop them in a vegetable crate or sack and store them in a cool, dark place – an unheated outbuilding is perfect. Larger roots will store longer.

Leaf Spot

You may notice some chocolate brown/purple spots appearing on beetroot leaves. This is a form of fungal leaf spot that is more likely to affect you if you’re in a wet but mild part of the country, like Cornwall, for example.

It’s not really a major problem, and tends to be more of an issue because it is aesthetically unappealing (you can still eat the leaves, cooked, if they have a few spots on and it shouldn’t affect the roots). You can pick off and remove affected leaves to try and prevent spread.

Split roots

If, when you harvest your beetroot, you see that they are split and have a big crack in them, this is undoubtedly caused by the plant being subjected to very wet and then very dry soil. It’s annoying, but at least you can still eat them!

Rats, Mice & Voles

You may get a nasty surprise when you pull up your beetroots and find that most of the root has been nibbled away. Rodents have a sneaky habit of tunnelling underground and getting to the root whilst leaving the leaves growing happily above the surface. Try to keep rodent levels to a minimum in the plot!

Storage Tips

Beetroot stores well over winter. The easiest thing to do is twist the leaves off, leave them unwashed and pop them in a vegetable crate or sack. Store them in a cool, dark place – an unheated outbuilding is perfect. Larger roots will store longer.

If you’re not storing them for a long time, you can harvest them and keep them in the fridge or veg basket for a few days in the kitchen.

Ways to cook

We cannot recommend enough roasted beetroot. They have such sweet flavour, and it makes a real change from potatoes and parsnips with a Sunday Roast.

Raw beetroot is good for adding to salads – grated and mixed with a little lemon juice, olive oil and salt and pepper.

You can also add cooked beetroot to homemade hummus before blending it – you get a lovely colour!

Recipe Idea

Smashed Beetroot & Goats Cheese Salad

  • Put whole beetroot (unpeeled) in a pan of water and bring to the boil. Simmer until they beetroot is cooked through. Drain and set aside to cool.
  • Once the beetroot are cool enough, peel off the skin with your fingers (it’ll come off easily) and crush the beetroots between your palms. This gives lots of jaggedy edges for the next part.
  • Warm some olive oil in a frying pan, throw in the beetroot and cook until they start to brown on the edges.
  • Season with salt and pepper.
  • Toss the beetroot with wild rocket, roughly torn mint leaves, and crumbled goats cheese.
  • Drizzle with olive oil and a squeeze of lemon juice.

When we deliver
We deliver these plug plants between September and mid/late October, although it’s a little dependent on the weather.

You can order from…
These plug plants are available to be ordered now and we’ll despatch them as soon as they are big enough to both handle the journey to your garden and handle life outside the poly tunnel.

Do I need to sign for them?
All our plant orders are dispatched with an overnight courier* to mainland UK and do not need to be signed for when they are delivered, but will be left somewhere safe. When placing your order, please let us know where you would like the plants left if you are not in when the courier delivers.

We will keep you posted
You will receive an email approximately a week before your order is dispatched and another on the day your plants are packed and leave us so you know to expect and prepare for their arrival.