Starting to see some beetroot

Into week 8 for the first crop of beetroot, and I have finally spotted some root at the base of the leaves. In the photo below, you can just about see some fattening up of the stem at the bottom of the stalk.  I was worried last week that after nearly two months nothing seemed to be happening, but now it looks that we might have some beetroot to eat after all.

Beetroot after 8 weeks

Here's a close up of the root actually forming. Unfortunately the photo shows I need to do a bit of weeding around the plants.

Close up of the root starting to form.

 As I've mentioned before, this variety Alto F1 Hybrid, is supposed to be sort of sausage shaped, which makes it good for slicing into sandwiches and pickling apparently.  I can only hope then that this root goes down quite a way into the ground.  I'm not sure when to harvest this beetroot, but I'll leave it a few more weeks I think to allow it to fatten some more.

The leaves are still showing worrying dark patches on them, but I'm not overly worried as the plants seem to be growing well still. Supposedly the leaves are edible, but I don't fancy it myself.