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Growing Turnips
Planting, Growing, and Harvesting Turnips
Planting, Growing, and Harvesting Turnips
Turnips are a delicious root vegetable that you can grow in your own backyard.
CrestockTurnips are cool-weather vegetables that can be grown both in spring and fall, avoiding the hot summer months. They mature very rapidly and you can enjoy both the greens and the roots. Try this ancient root vegetable that’s been grown for over 3,000 years.
Turnips are hardy biennials usually grown as annuals by the home gardener. We enjoy them most as an autumn crop, seeded in late summer, because they are usually sweeter and more tender than spring crops—and pests are less problematic.
What’s wonderful about turnips is that they germinate in only a few days. Within a month, you can enjoy their bright greens, and within a second month, you can eat the swollen roots. Try them as a substitute for potatoes.
Planting
When to Plant Turnips
- For a late spring harvest, sow turnip seeds directly in the garden as soon as the ground is workable, usually 2 to 3 weeks before the average last frost date.
- For an autumn harvest, sow turnips in late summer. Sow after summer crops of onions, squash, beans or sweet corn.
- You can also sow seeds in early autumn for a late autumn harvest.
Choosing and Preparing a Planting Site
- Select a site that gets full sun.
- Soil should be well-draining and loosened to a depth of 12 to 15 inches.
- In advance, mix in a 2- to 4-inch layer of compost or aged manure. Add sand to heavy, clay soil and remove stones to allow the turnip to easily expand belowground.
How to Plant Turnips
- Turnips are seeded directly into the garden; they do not transplant well.
- Scatter turnip seed. Do not cover the seeds with more than ½ an inch of soil.
- Once seedlings are 4 inches high, thin them to 4 to 6 inches apart. Space wide rows 12 inches apart.
- Thin turnips grown for greens from 2 to 3 inches apart (or, some of us don’t bother thinning for greens at all).
Care
How to Grow Turnips
- Keep the beds weed free, but be careful of disturbing the root of young turnips.
- Mulch to retain moisture and suppress weeds.
- Turnips do not need much care, but consistent soil moisture is important. Keep soil lightly moist, watering at a rate of 1 inch per week to prevent the roots from becoming tough and bitter.
Pests/Diseases
- Root Maggots
- Flea Beetles
- Powdery Mildew
- Downy Mildew
- Aphids
Harvest/Storage
How to Harvest Turnips
- Harvest some turnips very early for turnip greens. The leaves taste best when young and tender.
- Harvest early types after about 5 weeks; maincrop types after 6 to 10 weeks.
- Harvest turnips at any size you wish, however, the small, young turnips are nicer and more tender.
- For fall turnips, consider harvesting just after a light frost (but before a hard freeze) for a sweeter taste.
How to Store Turnips
- Store for up to 3 or 4 months in a cool, dark, humid place such as a root cellar or the vegetable drawer of your refrigerator.
- If storing in the refrigerator, keep turnips in a perforated plastic bag. It’s important that the turnips do not dry out, but also that they do not become moldy from too much moisture.
Recommended Varieties
Recommended varieties include:
- ‘Just Right’
- ‘Yellow Globe’ have wonderful golden turnip roots, great for roasting.
- ‘Purple Top White Globe’ are great for an extended production of greens.
- Recommended for the Upper Midwest and Canada are cold hardy varieties ‘Green Globe’ and ‘York Globe.’
If you are growing turnips primarily for their greens, most any turnip variety will do.
Wit & Wisdom
- Turnips like a dry bed but a wet head.
- Young turnips are so tender that you can peel and eat them just as you would an apple.
- Turnips are often confused with rutabagas because they are similar, and people like to plant them together. The two root vegetables grow well under the same conditions, but rutabagas take about four weeks longer to mature.
- Many turnips are grown not for the root itself but for the turnip greens, which can be cooked or used raw in salads. Younger turnip greens will not be as bitter as mature leaves.
- For other greens to use in your cuisine, see the Leafy Greens: Health Benefits page.
Recipes
Cooking Notes
If you’re wondering how to cook turnips, you’re not alone. Both the turnip greens and roots are very nutritious. Turnip roots should generally be peeled and sliced before using them. Both turnip roots and turnip greens are usually cooked, but can also be enjoyed raw.
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Reader Comments
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turnips
I planted a row of turnips for the first time. It was early spring and the greens looked wonderful but there are no, zero bulbs. Just a root. The soil is loose, compost added and full sunlight most of the day. Any suggestions from this disappointed urban farmer?
Turnip question
My turnips are beautiful, but they don't taste very good. Is it just because they are spring turnips? Can I add something to the soil that will make them sweeter?
Turnips
Turnips taste bad to me at their best. They taste like dirt to me although some people like them. I grow them for the greens that I love.
Turnips, how many seed to plant to harvest half a sack>
Hi, how many turnip seeds should I plant in order to harvest half a sack of turnips?
And, how much space do I need if I want to harvest half a sack of turnips?
(I am going to try out an old story/gardening anecdote that is about a hundred years old).
(I don't know the size of the sack, by the way. I am hoping an old farmer will know, back then, years ago, what is meant by half a sack). (Like how they know what a bushel and a peck are).
Sack of seeds
A sack of seed depends on how much land and quantity you are wanting to plant. Check out Sustainable Seed Company site. for seed counts and germination, to give you more specific quantities in a sack.
Roasted Turnips
Wash & quarter turnips. Drizzle & toss with olive oil, then sprinkle with salt & Rosemary leaves. Bake at 375, for about 30 minutes, tossing with a spatula about every 10 minutes to evenly brown them. Delicious!
a question to be asked
in what altitude is turnip grown? and in which variety does it fall?
Turnips
Turnips grow at low and high altitudes. They are cool-weather vegetables so ideal for high altitudes. Plant four weeks before the last frost date.
Turnip cole slaw
Best thing I do with turnips is make cole slaw with them. Delicious.
Turnip Planting
I am starting a food plot using turnips. Plot is 8000 to 10000 square feet. Any thoughts on how many lbs of seed needed using a broadcast spreader?
Turnips flowered
My turnips have flowered, can I still eat the turnip bulb?
turnip bolting
Once the turnip goes to flower/seed, the root becomes woody and tough and isn’t suitable for eating. Turnips are biennials, so they will naturally flower and go to seed (called bolting) the second year. Occasionally, though, they may bolt the first year if the plant is under stress, such exposed to extreme temperatures (both cold or hot) or lacks enough nutrients or water.
Turnip storage
I grow 60 acres of turnips. This year we are experimenting with a harvester. To harvest we had to use a topper first to top the leaves. There is still approx 3" of stalk left on top. Can we store these with that stalk still on them.
topping off turnips
Hi, Pat, We checked a few sources and they advises cutting the tops off about ½ inch from the crown (this is also recommended for carrots). A couple advise trimming to 1 inch (or at least 1 inch), the point being that you do not want to cut into the turnip. At least one source advised leaving 1 to 2 inches of tops. That’s all we’ve turned up …
beet storage
On such a large scale, it might be best to contact your county’s Cooperative Extension Service for advice. For contact information, please see:
http://www.almanac.com/content/cooperative-extension-services
Turnip planting
What time of the year do I need to plant Turnip Seeds?? I have never planted but Love to eat them raw but like the smaller ones so they are not bitter. What kind do you recommend to buy!!
Thank You,
Carol Johnson
turn in for turnips
Carol, turnips grow best in temps from 40°F to 75°F, so not in the heat of winter. The best time to plant is in early spring, two to three weeks before your last spring frost date. Put your zip code in here to learn more about that: http://www.almanac.com/gardening/frostdates/zipcode/03444
Several varieties are mentioned above. In spring, you can also visit a nursery/gardening store and inquire about the seed varieties they have. In the meantime, consider signing up with one of the seed catalog companies (Fedco is one; google it and “seed catalog” for even more) and get on the list for a catalog.
turnips
What i was wondering is,
can you cut off just the greens and let the turnips keep growing?
small turnips
Having a difficult time getting the turnips to get to a decent size. I have planted diferent places but they are small and will not grow to any decent size.
Turning around your turnips
Chris, this could be a couple of things:
• what’s your soil pH? it should be 5.5 to 6.8.
• is your soil rich with organic matter—compost, aged manure? Turnips like rich soil.
• turnips thrive in cool temps—45°F to 75°F.
• turnips like moisture; esp in the early stages, don’t let the soil dry out.
• keep the bed weed free.
It doesn’t sound like garden pests or disease are your problem. The first best guess is soil, and everything follows.
We hope this helps!
are cooked mashed turnips the
are cooked mashed turnips the same the next day? or do they become bitter the next day? (i am preparing an emiril recipe for tomorrow, and would like to prepare this evening)
We hope your turnips were
We hope your turnips were good. You can prepare mashed turnips ahead of time and store in the refrigerator until ready to serve. Just reheat in the microwave or in a low temp. oven.
what is meant by wet head dry
what is meant by wet head dry bed?
wet head, dry bed
Perhaps it means not to keep the roots too wet or they could rot but the leaves like to be watered ... like a decent watering but not drowning so they stand in water for awhile? That's what it sounds like to me. Doesn't seem any one else answered.
Turnip
When do I plant turnip greens
I didn't see mustard greens
I didn't see mustard greens in the list of vegetables, do I follow the same instructions as turnips and if not when do I plant them? I live in south Louisiana
Hi, Paula: Your instincts are
Hi, Paula: Your instincts are absolutely correct! Mustard and turnip have many of the same growing requirements... and you can plant your greens right now! Thanks for asking!
How do I harvest and store
How do I harvest and store the seedlings?
Just to make sure I'm
Just to make sure I'm understanding, do you mean to store the very young green plant? If so I have no experience there. How ever if you are storing the root. Wipe dry and store in a cool dry place or in frige for months. The greens, store unwashed and loosely bagged in fridge for up to a week.
I tried growing turnips in
I tried growing turnips in plastic bags but the leaves were growing very healthily and I was thinking I will get good turnips but I was disappointed to see very small bulbs. What is the reason?
Regards,
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