Beetroot for Chrıstmas? Why not…

It’s one of winter’s earthiest and most distinctive vegetables, says Monty Don, and fantastic for the Christmas table...

The colours of the season are undoubtedly red and green and of course, apart from every variation imaginable of Christmas decoration, this is most iconically represented in the garden by holly. But the richest red the garden has to offer at this time of year is unlikely to feature in anyone’s idea of Christmas decorations, although I hope that it features at some stage as part of your Christmas fare.

Beetroot is very hardy and can be grown so it is available practically all year round, although getting a good supply of roots between the last of the over-wintering crop in February/ March and the first tender young beets in June can be tricky. It is at its best either eaten small and fresh in early summer or as a sustaining winter vegetable. I love eating beetroot roasted with some thyme and perhaps a hot cream sauce as well as made into hearty winter soup. Either way it is one of the most earthy, distinctive and essential of all vegetables.

Mind you, there are times when perhaps beetroot are not top of one’s wish-list. I will never forget staying in a small hotel in Cracow in Poland just after the break-up of the Soviet Union in 1991 and the only food served for breakfast was boiled beetroots and hard-boiled eggs. Not a good combination at any time – let alone for breakfast!

We tend to focus on the beet itself but the leaves are good to eat too, either cooked like chard or spinach or eaten raw as a salad leaf. In fact, it appears that it was not until the 1600s that it was cultivated at all for the root.

Beetroot does best grown in rich but welldrained soil. It does not mind cold but should be given a sunny spot. I sow mine into modules, grow them on under cover and then plant the seedlings out as and when the soil warms up in spring. The plant will respond to drought or extreme heat or cold, especially when young, by putting its energies into producing seed rather than the swollen root, which means it can bolt, although it may not manifest this for a month or two. The answer is to try to ensure a steady, consistent supply of nutrients, water and heat.

I find that two successional sowings are enough but that may be a measure of our consumption rather than the perfect number. Rampant beetroot eaters wanting only the youngest roots might well need three or four sowings to satisfy their cravings. I sow the first in March for planting out in May and the second in June for an August planting. This latter one will stay in the ground all winter and although cold weather will reduce some of the roots to hollow, soggy shells, it is astonishing how new foliage can nevertheless appear in spring, and this is delicious salad material for the ‘hungry gap’ in spring when there is little or no fresh produce.

So if you find your plants become woody or even half-rotten over the coming weeks, leave them in the ground, because they will grow new foliage in early spring for you to eat up. Then when the leaves are finally gone, the batch you have sown in March should be ready for its first harvest of baby beet.

I have tried many varieties but find that ‘Bulls Blood’ and ‘Chioggia’ are always very good. ‘Bulls Blood’ is one of our oldest varieties, going back nearly 200 years, and is slow to bolt. It can get a bit woody but the best way to counter that tendency is to eat it young and tender. ‘Chioggia’ is, as its name suggests, an Italian variety that has concentric pale and dark pink rings. It is deliciously sweet but is a notorious bolter, so keep it well watered.

Monty with his ‘Bulls Blood’ beetroot