Mr Fothergills RHS Beetroot Action F1 Seeds AGM Sweet Baby or Full Size

What it is

Beetroot Action F1 is a high quality British bred F1 hybrid variety from Mr Fothergill's Seeds, produced in partnership with the RHS and awarded the RHS Award of Garden Merit for its consistent reliability and excellent garden performance. It is a Beta vulgaris variety producing smooth, deep red globe shaped roots with a clean, attractive appearance and strong tops that make lifting noticeably easier than varieties with weaker foliage. Action F1 is a versatile variety: it can be harvested young at golf ball size for sweet, tender baby beets, or left to develop into full sized mature roots with the same excellent flavour and smooth skin. For successional sowing and continuous harvests through summer and into autumn, it is one of the most practical and rewarding beetroot varieties available to the home grower.

Why it is good

The flavour of Action F1 is genuinely outstanding for a beetroot: sweet, mild and deeply coloured in a way that compares very favourably to shop bought roots. The smooth skin and uniform globe shape mean very little waste in the kitchen, and the roots hold their colour well when cooked. At the baby stage, harvested when golf ball sized, they are sweet and tender in a way that larger, more mature roots often are not: perfect roasted whole, pickled or sliced raw into salads. Left to mature fully, they develop into high quality, consistent, deep red roots suitable for all the classic uses. Baby leaves are fully edible and work well in salads, adding a mild earthy sweetness alongside the decorative deep red veining. Quick to mature at six to twelve weeks, it is also one of the faster returning crops you can sow in the kitchen garden.

Growing performance

Action F1 is straightforward to grow and performs well in a wide range of conditions. It prefers a sunny position in light, well drained, stone free soil that has been raked to a fine tilth before sowing: heavy, compacted or stony ground can cause roots to fork or distort. Avoid ground with freshly added manure as this also causes forking. Beetroot seeds are actually seed clusters, meaning each sowing position can produce multiple seedlings, so thinning to 10cm apart as seedlings develop is important to give roots room to form properly. Sow every two to three weeks from April through to July for a continuous supply rather than a single large glut: this is one of the simplest and most effective growing tricks for beetroot. It also performs well in containers and raised beds as long as depth is sufficient for root development.

Harvest and outcome

Harvest from June through to October, depending on sowing date and how you want to use the roots. Start pulling at golf ball size for baby beets: twist the tops off rather than cutting to prevent the roots bleeding juice. For full sized mature roots, leave in the ground until required, checking that roots are not becoming woody. Roots can be stored in boxes of slightly damp sand in a cool, frost free place for several weeks after harvest. Baby leaves can be picked from young plants and used fresh in salads. The vibrant deep red colour of Action F1 is retained well in roasting and pickling, making it a visually appealing crop at the table as well as in the garden.

Who it is for

Action F1 is an excellent choice for any grower who wants a dependable, high flavour beetroot without any fuss. It suits allotment growers who want a productive, low maintenance root crop across the full summer season, and kitchen gardeners who value something that earns its space from early summer right through to autumn. The compact growing habit and good container performance make it particularly well suited to smaller plots, raised beds and patio growing. For anyone new to growing beetroot, the combination of fast maturity, dual purpose harvest and forgiving nature makes Action F1 one of the best possible starting points.