Turnips
Brassica rapa subspecies rapa. BRASSICACEAE.
Planting, Growing, and Harvesting Turnips
You’ll find everything you need to know to plant and grow turnips in the accompanying table’s tabs:
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- How many turnips to plant
- Spacing needs and planting method
- Growing conditions for turnips
- When to plant turnips
- How to plant turnips
- Watering, fertilizing, and pruning turnips
- Companion plantings for turnips
- How to harvest, store, and use turnips
Growing Turnips
Turnips are cool-season root vegetables. Plants produce salad greens and edible, bulbous roots with white interiors with crisp textured flesh. Most are globe- or oval-shaped.
To grow turnips for greens, either harvest the plants’ leaves before roots form or choose greens-only cultivars.
Turnip Plant and Care Guide
How Much to Plant
Allow 5–10 plants per household member.
Spacing Turnips
Scatter seed and thin after true leaves develop to 4–6 in. (10–15 cm) apart.
How to Plant
Seed germinates in 8–12 days.
Zones 3–7: Sow seed in full sun–partial shade in late summer for early autumn harvest.
Zones 8–9: Sow seed in early spring for summer harvest when soil warms to 40–75°F (4–24°C), then again in early autumn for late autumn harvest.
Zones 10–11: Sow seed in late autumn for winter harvest. Sow seed 1/2-in. (12-mm) deep, 1 in. (25 mm) apart, thinning to 4–6 in. (10–15 cm) apart, in rows 15–36 in. (38–90 cm) apart.
Autumn–Winter Gardens: Sow seed in July or August for harvest in Winter–Spring.
Plant successions every 3–4 weeks.
Best Conditions for Growth
40–75°F (4–24°C). If temperatures exceed 75°F (24°C) for extended periods, roots will develop slowly and plants may fail.
Soil Type and Fertility
Moist, well-drained soil. Fertility: Rich. 5.5–6.8 pH. Prepare soil 1 ft. (30 cm) deep.
Proper Care
Easy. Keep evenly moist; avoid wetting foliage, fruit, or vines. Fertilize monthly with 5–10–10 formula. Mulch to avoid sunburn. Cultivate. Pest and disease resistant.
Pairing Recommendations
Bush beans, peas, and southern peas.
Maturity, Picking and Gathering
30–60 days.
Greens: Pick greens when 1 ft. (30 cm) long, thinning outer foliage and leaving the central growth bud to resprout.
Roots: Harvest roots when 2–3 in. (50–75 mm) wide, digging carefully with a garden fork. Harvest promptly; leaving turnips in ground past maturity causes woody texture.
How to Store and Preserve
Fresh in vegetable keeper of refrigerator, 7–10 days for greens and 2–3 months for roots; cooked and frozen, 6 months. Immature roots store indefinitely in the ground at soil temperatures of 35–80°F (2–27°C); mulch heavily to insulate roots upon frost or when temperatures fall under 35°F (2°C). Turnip greens are generally rare in produce markets and prized for their delicate flavor, delicious if eaten raw in salads, or steamed. The turnip bulb, with its unique, sweet flavor, may be eaten raw, baked, or boiled and mashed.