I am addicted to challenging new things! Turnips! I don't even eat them! But I bet you I will eat them if I grow them! So I consulted "The Old Farmer's Almanac":
Turnips 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.
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.
WHEN TO PLANT TURNIPS
HOW TO HARVEST TURNIPS
Turnips 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.
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.
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.
- 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 below ground.
- 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).
- 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.
- Root Maggots
- Flea Beetles
- Powdery Mildew
- Downy Mildew
- Aphids
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.
Reading that information, I am really excited! I planted seeds on 9/25/2020. It germinated on 10/1/2020.
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10/13/2020. In 13 days! Impressive!!
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10/23/2020 I never liked eating Turnip when I was a child. But, I have noticed that more I grow my own food, I get attached to each one of the plants and find myself actually looking forward to tasting some! This is going to be one of them. Look how fast they are growing!
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The National Wildlife Federation (NWF), America's largest wildlife conservation and education organization, is pleased that Kozue Maye at Poof Dirt Farms in Pahrump, NV has successfully created a certified Wildlife Habitat through its garden for "Wildlife" movement.
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