Medwyn Williams advises on growing beetroot for the show bench
John King, London
Medwyn says: It depends whether or not you're referring to the long or globe beetroot, as both are in show schedules. The long beet is 20 points, the maximum you can achieve, and the globe is 15 points and therefore considered easier to grow than the long selection. Beetroot are not difficult at all to grow in fertile soil and should be one of the easiest for most novice growers to have a go at. I usually allow around 16 weeks for the globe beetroot to grow to a good show size and the long one 20 weeks.
Grow the long variety in drums or raised beds of sand, similar to parsnips or long carrots, and fill out the bored holes with a low nutrient fine grade seed compost. A few of the top globe beetroot exhibitors now core out holes about 7.5cm (3in) in diameter and 45cm (1½ft) deep and fill with the same compost as above. This will produce specimens with a good skin finish and a long tap root which seems to show the beetroot to good effect.
If you leave the beetroot to their own devices, and for kitchen use, I used to sow them sparingly and only thin them out by using the thinnings to eat from when the size of a golf ball. The remainder were left to grow on in the vacant spaces to develop later for both the kitchen and show bench. However, for showing you ideally need to sow them about 7.5 (3in) apart in stations in the soil and thin them out to leave one to develop.
Globe beetroot normally have the top half exposed and this will leave a rough finish on the upper part, a term referred to in showing circles as ‘corkiness’. This can be prevented by earthing up the beetroot crowns with some fine top soil or spent growing medium. Always sow the varieties that regularly win on the benches. In the long class choose ‘Exhibition Long Black’ or a good selection of ‘Cheltenham Green Top’. For the globe type the best ones are ‘Pablo’ or 'Cardeal’.