Growing Turnips from Seed in My Back Yard

Encouraged by my sucessful crop of beets and carrots the previous summer, I ordered a packet of turnip Hakura from Park Seed as an experiment.

Planted this spring, my turnip Hakura proved to be an easy-to-grow root crop and an interesting change from carrots or beets. Young turnips are sweeter, much more tender, and more flavorul than the woody, waxed specimens normally found at the grocery store. Yes, many people say they don't like turnips--but they haven't had garden turnips.

As a bonus, when you grow turnips, you can eat the tops (turnip greens), much as you would spinach, chard, or beet greens. The flavor of turnip greens is similar to that of beet greens, and somewhat more mild than swiss chard. They would be suitable for Southern-style greens with ham or simple sauteed greens.

My package of turnip Hakurei instructed me to sow the seeds directly in the soil outdoors, up to two weeks before the last frost. I planted them in late April in my Illinois garden. Our last frost usually occurs around May 7.

Turnip seeds are reasonably small, similar to those of beets. The seed package recommended planting them from 1/4 to 1/2 inch deep in rows 1 to 2 feet apart. Because my garden is small, and because I follow a modified version of lasagna gardening, I do not plant in rows. I scattered the seeds over the planting area and covered them with a light layer of soil.

It is important, as with other root crops, to be sure the soil is loose or well-tilled. Otherwise, the turnip roots will not form properly (You can still eat the leaves though.).

Germination took about 1 to 2 weeks, with my plants appearing above ground in early May. The plants' leaves closely resembled those of spinach in appearance. Thinning is recommended for the best root formation--save the young plants thinned for cooking--but I didn't bother to do this and am still getting a good crop.

By early July, I was pulling young white turnip roots, about 1-3 inches long and across, from the soil.

To prepare the turnips for cooking, I scrubbed the roots well to remove any soil and peeled. A vegetable scrubber or stiff brush is helpful if you have one. Turnips are suscecptible to some insect damage like other root crops. The damaged parts of the root can be removed if necessary. I halved or quartered the roots and spread them on a baking sheet. After salting lightly and drizzling with olive oil, I baked at 350 degrees for about 30 minutes.

To eat the leaves, I sauteed them with olive oil and garlic for a side dish to another meal. I have also tried cooking turnip greens with beans, such as in the Beans and Greens recipe in Mark Bittman's cookbooks, How to Cook Everything and How to Cook Everything Vegetarian.

Though not a popular vegetable in the United States now, turnips have been cultivated since ancient Greek and Roman times. Pliny, an ancient philospher, considered them to be among the most important vegetables.