Planting guide

When to plant silverbeet

Tough, forgiving leaves that crop for months and handle both heat and cold. In Melbourne it goes in All year.

Start as: Seed, sown in place or Seedling
Ready in: 8–11 wks
Spacing: 30 cm
Depth: 2 cm
Sun: Half a day (3–6 hours)
Water: Low
Effort: Easy
Frost-tender: No

When it goes in

● means silverbeet can go in that month, ○ means wait. Worked out from each town's real monthly temperatures, not a zone map. Pick your town for the full list for that month.

Australian towns and cities
Town	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec
Sydney	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●
Melbourne	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●
Brisbane	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●
Perth	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●
Adelaide	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●
Gold Coast	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●
Newcastle	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●
Sunshine Coast	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●
Canberra	●	●	●	●	●	○	○	○	●	●	●	●
Central Coast	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●
Geelong	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●
Wollongong	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●
Hobart	●	●	●	●	●	○	○	○	●	●	●	●
Townsville	○	○	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	○
Cairns	○	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●
Toowoomba	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●
Darwin	○	○	○	○	○	●	●	●	○	○	○	○
Ballarat	●	●	●	●	●	●	○	●	●	●	●	●
Mandurah	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●
Bendigo	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●
Launceston	●	●	●	●	●	○	○	○	●	●	●	●
Mackay	○	○	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	○
Rockhampton	○	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●
Coffs Harbour	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●
Blue Mountains	●	●	●	●	●	●	○	●	●	●	●	●
Bunbury	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●
Bundaberg	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●
Alice Springs	○	○	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	○
Mildura	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●
Port Macquarie	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●

Around the world
Town	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec
Auckland	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●
Wellington	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●
Christchurch	●	●	●	●	●	○	○	○	●	●	●	●
London	○	○	○	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	○	○
Manchester	○	○	○	○	●	●	●	●	●	●	○	○
Edinburgh	○	○	○	○	●	●	●	●	●	●	○	○
Dublin	○	○	○	○	●	●	●	●	●	●	○	○
New York City	○	○	○	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	○	○
Los Angeles	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●
Chicago	○	○	○	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	○	○
Seattle	○	○	○	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	○	○
Austin	●	●	●	●	●	○	○	○	●	●	●	●
Toronto	○	○	○	○	●	●	●	●	●	●	○	○
Vancouver	○	○	○	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	○	○
Cape Town	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●
Johannesburg	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●
Singapore	●	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	●
Mumbai	●	●	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	●
Paris	○	○	○	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	○	○
Berlin	○	○	○	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	○	○

How to plant silverbeet

Sow seed 2 cm deep, or plant seedlings.
Thin to 30 cm apart.
Water in dry spells and mulch.
Cut outer stalks near the base, leaving the centre.

Silverbeet varieties

Classic varieties are the reliable, widely grown ones. Adventurous ones are heirlooms, odd colours and rarities.

Fordhook GiantClassicgiant · heavy-cropper · 8–11 wksReliable, big-leaved silverbeet that crops all year
RainbowClassiccolourful · kid-favourite · 8–11 wksStems in pink, orange, yellow and red
Ruby RedClassiccolourful · 8–11 wksCrimson stems and dark leaves; ornamental and tasty
LucullusClassicheirloom · 8–11 wksPale-green, crinkled leaves; mild and tender
Yellow CanaryAdventurouscolourful · 8–11 wksGolden stems and glossy leaves
Orange FantasiaAdventurouscolourful · 8–11 wksNeon-orange stems for the kitchen and the garden

Where to buy seeds

Search on The Diggers Club Search on Seeds of Plenty Search on Happy Valley Seeds Search on Amazon

Shop links may earn us a commission. It never changes what we recommend.

Shops shown are for Australia. The chooser picks shops for your country.

Good companions

Bean, Onion, Cabbage

Silverbeet by month

Jan · Feb · Mar · Apr · May · Jun · Jul · Aug · Sep · Oct · Nov · Dec

More to plant

Lettuce · Spinach · Kale · Rocket · Bok Choy · Celery

Not sure silverbeet is right for your space? Answer a few taps and see everything that can go in this week.

Find what else you can plant now →