Wed 7 Jan 2009
These cool-season, frost-hardy vegetable produces huge crops of edible roots and greens from a given area. Both spring and fall crops of turnips are possible. Turnips require 45 to 60 days to mature roots. Turnip greens are very popular, cooked alone or mixed with diced or sliced turnip roots or in equal parts with mustard greens. Special, very hardy varieties with nonedible roots are favored for a fall and winter harvest of greens in the Southern states.
Turnip plants can reach about 18 inches in height and spread but can be spaced closely for intensive gardening. Different varieties give a nice choice of colors and shapes. Turnips can be globe shaped or a flattened globe. Colors are white, white topped with purple, or creamy yellow.
How to plant
Work plant food into the bed and broadcast a second application around plants a month later. For spring crops, plant seeds 1/4 inch deep in short rows as early in the spring as the soil can be worked. For fall harvest, sow seeds 1/2 inch deep in midsummer. Broadcast turnip seeds or sow them thinly in rows 18 inches apart.
Care
During dry weather, two or three waterings per week will be needed to prevent wilting of foliage.
Harvesting
Pick greens while they are the size of your hand or smaller; the stems of older leaves get stringy. Begin pulling turnip roots when they reach 2 inches in diameter. Roots will keep in the ground until the soil begins to freeze solid. Then they can be dug and topped and stored in a straw or leaf pile or a very cool root cellar.
In containers
This root crop requires a great deal of soil depth to be successful.
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