How to Grow Beets Indoors: 6 Super Simple Tips

Do you love having delicious homegrown veggies on hand but don’t have space for an outdoor garden at home? If so, you’re in the right place. Beets are super simple to grow in containers. Read on to discover how to grow beets indoors and enjoy a year-round supply of delicious beetroot and beet greens.

Beets are cool-season vegetables that don’t require much extra care. In addition to being a popular root crop, they also produce edible leaves. As such, beets are an incredibly versatile culinary vegetable. Beetroot is perfect for baking, roasting, pickling, boiling, and eating raw. Moreover, beet greens are a delightful addition to fresh salads or sandwiches. You can also steam or sautée them for a healthy side dish.

Growing beets indoors is a fun and rewarding DIY gardening project. Are you ready to find out all about how to grow beets at home in an indoor veggie garden? Let’s dig in!

Can You Grow Beets Indoors?

Have you been wondering, “Can you grow beets indoors?” The answer is, absolutely! Beets (Beta vulgaris) make ideal candidates for an indoor container garden.

Beets have a relatively short growing season and are ready to harvest within 40-65 days, depending on the variety. Beet seeds usually get planted outdoors in early spring, and the seedlings often need frost protection with a cold frame or row cover. However, you can grow beets indoors at any time of the year.

Beets belong to the Amaranthaceae plant family and are related to spinach, Swiss chard, and quinoa. Although they look similar to radishes, and these two root veggies often get grown together, they’re not related. Radishes are in the Brassica family.

Beets are highly nutritious and often get hailed as a superfood. Beetroot is an excellent source of fiber, potassium, iron, manganese, and vitamins B9 and C. Meanwhile, beet greens come packed full of calcium, iron, copper, manganese, antioxidants, and vitamin K.

Choosing the Best Container for Growing Beets Indoors

The first step to container gardening success is finding a suitable pot. It’s vital to use a container with drain holes at the bottom. Otherwise, the soil becomes oversaturated, and plants’ roots cannot absorb oxygen and nutrients properly. Soggy soil often leads to problems like root rot, fungal disease, or boron deficiency.

Your container for planting beets must be at least 12 inches deep. Allow six to eight inches of width for each beet plant you’d like to grow.

Although they’re attractive, terra cotta pots aren’t ideal for growing veggies indoors. Terra cotta absorbs water, causing the soil to dry out faster. Instead, use plastic, resin, or glazed ceramic pots for growing beets indoors.

How to Grow Beets Indoors

Beets will tolerate partial shade, but the plants grow best in full sun. Place your potted beets where they’ll receive at least six hours of bright light throughout the day. Consider using grow lights if you don’t have a sunny, south-facing window available.

Similar to growing other plants indoors, it’s essential to provide the correct levels of water, light, and nutrients for your indoor beets. Since root vegetables don’t respond well to transplanting, beets should get planted from seed.

P​lanting Beet Seeds

Fill your container with a nutrient-rich, well-draining potting mix. Then, sow your beet seeds a half-inch deep and lightly cover them with soil. It’s beneficial to pre-saturate the soil to avoid disturbing the seeds after planting.

Maintain consistent soil moisture during germination, which usually takes five to eight days. The optimal soil temperature for germinating beet seeds is between 55 and 70°F.

Each beet “seed” is really a cluster of several tiny seeds encased in a protective exterior shell. After germination, sets of two to four beet seedlings sprout. To speed up the germination process, soak beet seeds in water for 12-24 hours before planting. Doing so starts to break down the outer coating.

Once the seedlings reach three or four inches tall, thin them to at least four inches apart. Proper spacing is vital for healthy root growth, and overcrowding the plants may cause them to become deformed or stunted.

Caring for Beet Plants

Beets are remarkably low-maintenance plants. That being said, they still need a bit of routine care. Keep the soil consistently moist but never exceedingly waterlogged. Overwatering often leads to problems with fungal disease and rot. In contrast, the roots may crack and split if the soil dries out too much.

As long as you’re growing beets in nutrient-rich soil, extra fertilizer isn’t usually necessary. Before planting seeds, mix organic compost or bone meal into the top few inches of potting soil.

When to harvest beets depends on the variety you’re growing and your intended culinary use. Baby beets are about the size of a golf ball and are ready to pick when the crown measures about one inch in diameter. Baby beets taste sweeter and have a more delicate texture. Harvest full-size beets when they’re around two or three inches in diameter. However, the roots turn tough and woody if they get left for too long.

Beet greens are ready to harvest in about 35 days. Use clean, sharp scissors to trim the outermost leaves as needed. However, be sure to leave at least half of the leaves, so the plant has enough energy to keep growing.

Top Beet Varieties for Growing Indoors

With so many options available, knowing the differences between the various types of beets is beneficial. They usually have green leaves and reddish roots. However, some cultivars grow white, yellow, or striped. Here are several ideal beet varieties for growing indoors.

Best Indoor Beet Varieties

• Bull’s Blood (heirloom, deep red to purple flesh and leaves, sweet flavor, 40-50 days to harvest)
• Chioggia (heirloom, red and white candy-striped flesh, earthy flavor, 55-65 days to harvest)
• Detroit Dark Red (heirloom, deep red to purple flesh, sweet flavor, 60-65 days to harvest)
• Early Wonder (heirloom, bright red flesh, rich flavor, 45-50 days to harvest)
• Red Ace (hybrid, bright red flesh, sweet flavor, 50-55 days to harvest)
• Touchstone Gold (hybrid, golden flesh, mild flavor, 50-55 days to harvest)

Solutions for Common Growing Problems

One of the many advantages of indoor container gardening is the reduced risk of pest and disease problems. However, it’s still necessary to regularly monitor your plants for signs of distress.

Some of the most common beet pests include aphids, leaf miners, mealybugs, and thrips. These insects feed on leaf tissue and can cause discoloration, yellowing, and leaf curl. At the first signs of a pest infestation, spray all sides of the stems and leaves with an organic insecticide like neem oil, horticultural oil, or insecticidal soap.

If the problem is too severe, remove the affected plants and place them in sealed bags for disposal to avoid spreading the insects to any other plants. To learn more about getting rid of pests on indoor plants, check out this article from the University of Minnesota Extension.

Fungal diseases like mildew, leaf spot, and root rot often result from overwatering. To avoid these issues, only water when the top several inches of soil feels completely dry. Treat downy mildew, powdery mildew, and leaf spot with an organic copper or sulfur fungicide. Unfortunately, there are no known treatments for root rot, and the plants must get discarded.

If you’d like to try indoor gardening, beets are the perfect veggies to start with. They’re low-maintenance and fast-growing. What’s more, all parts of these plants are edible and incredibly nutritious. As long as you can provide plenty of light and water, fertile soil, and a large pot with drain holes, you’ll have a bountiful harvest of beets in a few weeks.

Have you ever tried growing beets indoors? Feel free to share your success stories or ask any questions you may have in the comments! If you found these container gardening tips helpful, please share this article about how to grow beets indoors with your fellow gardening enthusiasts.