Crop timing

When to sow beetroot in the UK

The short answer, on 26 October

Not for a crop this year. The window closed at the end of July. If your beetroot is out, see what can follow it.

Beetroot is sown from late winter under fleece until July. The early sowings are the ones that go wrong: beetroot sown into cold conditions tends to bolt.

The beetroot year at a glance

From Vercro's crop catalogue, a national UK calendar in whole months. The underlined month is this one. Where you live moves these edges by a few weeks either way.

Beetroot sowing, planting and harvest months
Window	J	F	M	A	M	J	J	A	S	O	N	D
sow indoorsMarch to April	January: no	February: no	March: yes	April: yes	May: no	June: no	July: no	August: no	September: no	October: no	November: no	December: no
sow outsideApril to July	January: no	February: no	March: no	April: yes	May: yes	June: yes	July: yes	August: no	September: no	October: no	November: no	December: no
harvestJune to October	January: no	February: no	March: no	April: no	May: no	June: yes	July: yes	August: yes	September: yes	October: yes	November: no	December: no

Growing time in the catalogue: 60 to 90 days from sowing. Family: Amaranthaceae.

Is it too late? It depends on your first frost

The same catalogue, run through the same code as the Vercro app, for three first-frost dates. “Should finish” means even the slow end of the growing time is done before the frost. Across 1050 UK gardens in Vercro the typical first autumn air frost ranges from about 4 November to 22 November (Met Office records), and in any one year it can come weeks earlier.

Last sowing of beetroot by first frost date
If your first frost is usually around	Last sowing that should finish	Possible only at its fastest
20 October	22 July	31 July
5 November	31 July	none
20 November	31 July	none

Open ground, no cover. Shorter autumn days slow growth, which the catalogue's growing times do not model.

Your dates

Add your postcode for your area's usual frost dates, and what they mean for beetroot.

Want every crop at once, or a greenhouse? Open the full sowing tool.

What changes the answer

Cold and early sowing
The RHS warns beetroot may bolt if sown in very cool conditions. Early sowings need a bolt-resistant variety and cover.
Heat and drought
It may also bolt in hot, dry weather. Keep summer sowings watered.
Your first frost
For July sowings, the frost date starts to matter. See the table above, or add your postcode below.
Baby beet or maincrop
Small roots for salads can be picked from young sowings; storing roots need the longer season of earlier sowings.

Where the sources differ

Vercro's catalogue and published advice, side by side

Agree on the end of the window (July). Vercro's catalogue starts outdoor sowing in April; the RHS allows late February and March outside under fleece or cloches with a bolt-resistant variety. The catalogue also carries an indoor window of March to April.

Common timing mistakes

Early sowing without cover
Cold snaps after sowing are the usual cause of early bolting.
One big sowing
A single sowing gives one flush of roots. Short rows every few weeks until July spread them out.
Letting summer sowings dry out
Drought checks growth and can trigger bolting.
Sowing in August for roots
Past July, both the catalogue and the RHS stop.

How Vercro handles this in a real garden

Vercro keeps each beetroot sowing on its bed. In the Garden plan, an empty bed offers beetroot while the window is open and uses your location's frost date to say whether a late sowing will finish, or only will if it grows at its fastest.

Frequently asked questions

When should I sow beetroot in the UK?

From late February under fleece with a bolt-resistant variety, and outside without cover from April, until July (RHS; Vercro’s catalogue sows outside April to July).

Why has my beetroot bolted?

The RHS says beetroot may bolt in hot, dry weather, or if sown in very cool conditions.

Keep going

Where this comes from

Crop windows, growing times and plant families come from Vercro's own curated crop catalogue, the same data the Vercro app uses. Where a published source says something different, we show both rather than choosing the convenient one. Reviewed 19 September 2026.

Beetroot: grow your own, Royal Horticultural Society. Read 19 September 2026.

Keep each sowing on its bed

Add sowings as you make them. Vercro keeps them separate and shows the few jobs that matter each morning.

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