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Perennial

No. 0091 · Beta vulgaris

Ghost Beet

Crop
Vegetable
Climate
Cold
Season
Autumn
Origin
Jutland, Denmark

At risk, kept by 3 growers

No. 0091The variety

A pure white beet that never bleeds, selected on a Jutland farm for sweetness in cold, short seasons.

Grows best inCool summers and deep, sandy soil

Adopt this seed

Seed passport

Perennial Seed Library · Season 2026

No. 0091
Origin
Jutland, Denmark
First documented
1902
Days to maturity
60 days for roots, two years for seed
Height
40 cm in leaf, 1.2 m in flower
Hardiness
Roots hardy to −5 °C
Sun
Full sun
Spacing
10 cm in rows 30 cm apart
Flavor notes
Sugar-sweet with no earthiness at all
Pledged open. Free to save and share.Hudson, NY

No. 0091Growth timeline

From sowing to saving seed.

Stage 01 of 06

  1. 01Late summer

    Sow

    Sow thinly into deep, stone-free soil and keep the surface damp until seedlings appear.

  2. 02Day 7 to 14

    Germinate

    Thin early, on a still day, to give every root room to swell.

  3. 03Autumn

    Lift roots

    Choose twenty or more of the best roots for seed, trim the leaves and store them cool and damp.

  4. 04Spring, second year

    Replant

    Set the chosen roots back in the ground as soon as the soil can be worked.

  5. 05Summer, second year

    Flower

    Tall flower stalks follow. Keep other varieties of the same crop far away, or net the plants.

  6. 06Late summer, second year

    Save seed

    Cut the stalks as the seed browns, dry them under cover and strip the seed by hand.

No. 0091Story

The story of Ghost Beet

A white beet looks like a mistake until it is roasted. Ghost Beet was selected on a farm near Ringkøbing around 1902 from a sugar beet cross, for roots that are sweet, round and as white inside as out. It never stains a plate, which made it a favorite at Sunday dinners and nearly nowhere else.

Beets take two years to make seed and cross freely with chard and every other beet in the neighborhood, so few gardeners save them. Only three growers in the network still hold Ghost Beet. Hanne Mortensen keeps it inside a tunnel of netting every second summer, so the wind cannot bring it company.

Grown by

3 growers this season

  • Eamon Keane

    Connemara, Ireland

  • Hanne Mortensen

    Jutland, Denmark

  • Liesl Brunner

    Valais, Switzerland

No. 0091Ghost BeetPERENNIAL SEED LIBRARY

Lending list · Season 2026

Borrow this seed.

Members borrow up to twelve varieties a year. Seed is posted on the first Monday of the month in a hand-numbered paper packet, and all we ask in return is a little of your harvest and a few lines about how it grew.