How to Store Beetroot for Winter

Beetroot left in the ground past the first hard frost is living on borrowed time. In lowland Scotland that frost typically arrives by late October (early November on the lowland islands), and on upland ground it can come in mid-to-late September: see the frost dates page for your area. The gap between "still looks fine out there" and "frozen solid in the bed" can be a single cold night, so the roots you want for January need to come in before it.

Lift beetroot before hard frost, twist off the leaves (don't cut into the root), and pack the roots in a box of sand, compost or coir, stored somewhere cool, dark and frost-free like a shed or garage, ideally around 0-4°C. They should keep for at least a couple of months.

When to lift for storage

Sow a batch from June onwards for winter storage: roots sown then are ready to harvest in autumn and keep through winter. Let them grow on past golf-ball size, since larger roots store better than small ones. There's no benefit in pulling them early the way you would for eating fresh.

Lift with a fork rather than pulling by the leaves, since torn or bruised skin is where storage rot gets started. Check each root as you go: anything showing slug damage, a split or a soft patch should go in the kitchen now rather than the box, because a damaged root is the one that fails first in store. Brush off loose soil rather than washing it, as wet skin going into storage encourages rot. Cut or twist the leaves off about 2.5cm from the base, leaving a short stub rather than cutting into the crownThe base of a perennial plant where roots and shoots meet, often sold and planted as a ready-made dormant plant rather than grown from seed. Full definition →.

'Cheltenham Green Top', an old variety with a long, tapering root, stores well and holds the RHS Award of Garden Merit. For sowing times and harvest sizing, see the beetroot growing guide.

The storage method, step by step

1. Lift and trim. Fork the roots out, brush off loose soil, and twist the leaves off 2.5cm from the base.
2. Choose a container. A wooden box or crate with some depth works better than a single layer on a shelf.
3. Pack in sand, compost or coir. Layer the roots so they aren't touching where possible. That limits how far rot can spread if one root starts to go, and the packing also stops the roots shrivelling.
4. Store cool and dark. Put the box in a garage or shed, out of light and away from heat. If mice get into your shed, a lidded box gives them less of a way in than an open crate.
5. Check every few weeks. Beetroot needs little attention beyond a look through the box (see below).

Dry or damp packing, and how cold

Advice on packing differs. The RHS's beetroot page says dry sand, potting compost or coir, while its general root-vegetable advice and Garden Organic both say slightly damp sand or similar. The aim is the same either way: keep the roots from drying out without sitting wet. Dry sand, compost or coir is the simpler default for a box or two, and slightly damp sand is worth switching to if you're storing enough to need several boxes.

Treat "at least a couple of months" as the safe planning figure rather than a ceiling. A colder shed, closer to Garden Organic's 0-4°C than to a bare "just above freezing", is the practical way to keep roots longer. A cheap min/max thermometer left in the shed for a week tells you where yours sits.

Will a Scottish shed stay cold enough?

This is reasoning from outdoor air-frost figures, not a measured shed temperature. Air frost is routine: Edinburgh's Royal Botanic Garden logs about 43 air-frost days a year and Aviemore about 84, against 22 at Stornoway and 9 on Tiree. An unheated shed is milder than open air but isn't insulated against a sustained cold snap, so inland and eastern sheds can drop below freezing, below the frost-free minimum stored beetroot needs.

During the coldest stretches, move the box against an insulated interior wall, off a concrete floor and away from the door, or bring it into a cool porch or unheated room. See the frost dates page for when the first hard frost typically arrives in your area.

Checking on stored roots

Roots packed together spread rot to their neighbours if a soft one is left in place, so look through the box every few weeks and pull out anything soft, slimy or mouldy as soon as you spot it. One rotting root caught early costs you one root; left in the box, it can cost you several. If roots go rubbery or shrivelled rather than rotting, the packing has probably dried out, and a light spray of water into the box should bring the moisture back without repacking.

Clamping and leaving roots in the ground

A clamp is a pyramid of roots on a 20cm base of light sandy soil or sand over straw, covered with 20cm of straw and then 15cm of soil, with a tuft of straw left out as a chimney for excess heat and moisture, and around 1m high overall. It is built for bulk root vegetables, and a wet Scottish site makes it a harder sell, since it relies on the base staying reasonably dry and a wet autumn on poorly drained ground can waterlog the pile. A box of sand or compost avoids that problem and suits most home harvests better. Full clamp construction for potatoes and sack or tray storage are in the potato storage article.

Where there is no risk of the soil freezing in winter, late beetroot can be left in the ground and lifted as needed, though hard frost can damage the roots. Covering the bed with a 30cm layer of straw, cardboard or bracken, held down with netting or fleeceA lightweight, breathable fabric laid or draped over plants to trap a little warmth and keep off frost, wind and some flying pests. Full definition →, gives them protection. If you don't already know whether your plot's soil freezes hard in a normal winter, don't gamble the crop on it: lift and store indoors instead.

Common questions

Sources