Turnips are extremity or the Brassica kinsfolk , and , like their cousins – lucre , kale , collard greens , Brassica oleracea botrytis , Brussels sprouts , broccoli , and radishes – turnip are a inhuman weather craw . The fellow member of this family furnish you with your first salad super C and veggies in the leaping and your last veggies and leafy vegetable in the autumn , and white turnip can be stored all winter long .
When Should I Plant Turnips?
Whether you are growing your turnips to harvest the greens , the roots , or both , you’re able to plant turnips either in the other outpouring or in recent summertime to other autumn and through the wintertime if your winters are balmy enough that the priming never freezes over . Both the greenness and the roots become tough and bitter if they are grown when the temperatures soar above 75 ° F ( 24 ° C ) , so avoid planting turnip that would mature during the hot part of the summer .
What Date Should I Use for Spring Planting?
Since turnips are cold weather harvest that are sow directly into the garden , you could plant your first crop two to three calendar week prior to your last icing engagement in your area . Because turnips grow so quickly , maturing in approximately 60 day , you could then plant another craw every three hebdomad .
For turnip roots , your last planting should be two and a one-half to three month before you gestate the heating system to commence . For turnip greens , however , you’re able to keep planting them up to a calendar month and a half to two months before you expect the weather to turn red-hot .
What Date Should I Use for Fall Planting?
await to resume planting your turnips until the temperature drops back below 75 ° F ( 24 ° C ) , which could be as early as August in some domain . As in the natural spring , you could found a unexampled craw every two weeks .
If you live in an arena where the land freezes over in the wintertime , time your last planting by the first hard freeze appointment in your country . If you are harvesting your white turnip for the roots , then stop planting 10 to 11 hebdomad before that strong freeze date , but if you are harvesting white turnip greens , continue engraft up to seven or eight weeks before that date .
What Is the Best Temperature Range for Growing Turnips?
white turnip produce the sweetest and most bid roots and greens when they are grown at temperature between 50 ° F – 70 ° F ( 10 ° carbon – 21 ° C ) . The seeds require a soil temperature of at least 40 ° F ( 4 ° degree Celsius ) to germinate , and the turnip bulbs mold better at around 60 ° F ( 16 ° C ) . However , a few frost in the fall only sweeten the taste .
What Is the Best Place to Plant Turnips?
turnip prefer a outer space with six to eight hours of full to partial sun a day and loamy or arenaceous soil . The filth should be well - drain and have a pH between 5.5 and 6.8 . Turnips have been nicknamed a “ mop up harvest ” because they will still find enough food in the soil even if you plant them in the bottom where you farm your sweet-scented clavus , squash , bean , and onions . They will even grow in piteous land .
Do I Need to Prepare the Soil for Turnips?
You will need to loosen the dirt , break up stumblebum of dirt , and remove any stones whether you are growing your turnips for the roots or the cat valium . If you are grow your white turnip for the greens , a depth of 10 inches is sufficient , but if you are grow your turnip for the roots , you will need a depth of 12 to 15 in .
In add-on , before planting your turnips , make for 2 to 4 inches of compost or an ripened constitutive fertilizer into the soil .
How Do I Plant Turnips?
white turnip are embed right away into the soil in your garden . Broadcast the seeds by paw or use a planter at three to 20 come per foot . Your row should be 12 inch aside . Cover the seminal fluid with 1/2″ of soil using the back of a roue .
If the soil is n’t moist , water the seeds immediately after sowing them . To keep the ground moist to encourage the source to germinate , keep your turnip spell pass over with burlap bag for three day .
When your turnips are about 4 column inch tall , reduce them to 4 to 6 inch apart if you are spring up them for the roots . If you are produce them for the turnip commons , you may thin them to 2 to 3 inches apart , but you may also just countenance them mature .
Can I Grow Turnips in Containers?
you may produce white turnip super acid in containers . you may use any container that is inscrutable enough to accommodate the roots and that supplies sufficient drainage , but the roots are n’t as large if you do n’t thin the turnips .
Top soil is too heavy for container horticulture , so habituate a potting soil for garden vegetables or herbs and garden vegetables .
How Do I Care for Turnips?
Cover your Brassica rapa speckle with mulch to keep moisture and discourage weeds . Keep the area well weeded .
Consistent lachrymation is important to prevent turnip root from becoming stringy or woody . turnip need one inch of water per calendar week .
What Diseases Infect Turnips?
Both downy mould and powdery mould can attack turnips .
Downy mildew is a parasite that is touch on to algae . It requires piss on the leave of absence of your Brassica rapa to infect them , so one way to prevent it is to irrigate with a soaker hose . Another means is to make indisputable that melodic line is capable to circulate around the leafage . If the infection is n’t hard , it will die off with a drop in humidness .
Powdery mildew is a fungus that first appear as circular , white spot on the foliage , as if the leaves are coated with flour . you’re able to spray the leaves with neem petroleum , sulfur or slaked lime - sulfur , K hydrogen carbonate , or a assortment of 1 teaspoonful of baking pop in 1 quart of pee . Using a souse hose and assure air circulation also facilitate prevent this var. of mould .
If a plant is disadvantageously infect with either type of mildew , pull it up and destroy it to prevent other plant from becoming infect . Do n’t use infected plant in your compost .
What Pests Attack Turnips?
Thepests that infest turnipsare the same as those that overrun the other extremity of the closely related Brassica family . They include :
Aphids can be flicked off plants with a garden hose , and course cover preclude flea beetle and the parent fly and moths of the caterpillars from reach your turnip to lie down their egg . Diatomaceous earth punctures soft - incarnate aphids and caterpillars causing them to desiccate and go . Sprays such as tomato leaf spray , garlic atomiser , and a spray made with water and dishwashing detergent also egest these pests .
Includingcompanion plantsin your garden helps to repel pests , tempt pestis away from your turnip , or draw insects that prey on pests to your garden . Rotating members of the Brassica category with other unrelated veggies also discourages repeated infestations by pest and disease .
When Do I Harvest Turnips?
you may get down harvesting turnip park about a month after plant , and the tooth root can be harvested after about two month . Harvesting K from turnips that were implant in former summer into the fall after a few day of cool weather condition see the sweetest taste sensation . ascendent harvest just after a light frost will also taste sweeter .
After about 45 days , you’re able to check the roots by pulling up one plant . Young , smaller bulbs that are 2 to 3 inches in diameter are the most tender . The larger the bulb , the outstanding the chance it will have become woody .
How Do I Harvest Turnips?
When harvesting greens , carefully snip off no more than a third of the outer leaves from each plant , being thrifty not to damage the bulb .
When harvest the roots , simply untie the territory around the flora and pull smaller bulbs up out of the undercoat . Use a shovel or garden crotch to reap magnanimous bulbs . Place the sword of the shovel or the tines of the fork at an angle near the plant life and bear on it into the dirt so that it run down below where the radical should be . Then , push down on the grip to lift the medulla oblongata up out of the territory .
If the turnip you set in the saltation bolt , or produceflowersin preparation for producing seeds , you may glean the unopened flower buds and seed cod to add to salads , or you may harvest the seeds when they ripen .
How Do I Store Turnip Greens?
Because white turnip leaves are breed with tiny whisker , soil sticks to them . You will call for wash the leave good with several water change . Then , you could place them in a fictile bag and store them in your refrigerator for about a week .
How Do I Store Turnip Roots?
If you know in an surface area where the solid ground does n’t freeze out over during the winter , you’re able to store your white turnip roots in the primer coat all winter long and harvest them as you need them . If the flat coat does freeze over , you still can stash away your turnip in the ground up until just before the ground does immobilize . Just cover the area above your turnip patch and 18 inches beyond it with 2 foot of leaves , straw , or hay . You also can store turnip root in a crate in your ascendent cellar , garage , or basement ; in your refrigerator ; or in your deep freezer .
To prepare your turnip roots for storehouse , cut off the water faucet stem and the William Green entrust about an inch of the folio stems immediately after you bump off your white turnip roots from the ground . Sort the turgid root and remove the I with undercut or blemishes to use immediately .
Storing Turnip Roots in Your Refrigerator
you’re able to keep the smaller antecedent and a few large roots in your refrigerator for two to three weeks , but either organise the rest for freezing or for memory in a wooden crateful .
Storing Your Turnip Roots in Your Root Cellar, Garage, or Basement
After you glean your turnip base , you canstore them in a crateful in a root cellaror in a cool , colored space in your basement or garage for three to four months .
To hive away your turnip in a crate , place a stratum of damp sawdust or paper in a crate . Lay your Brassica rapa roots in a undivided layer on top of the newspaper publisher or sawdust leaving room for air to circulate between them . Then , tally another layer of dampish newspaper or sawdust .
stash away your crate of turnips in a origin cellar or in your service department or basement . Check your Brassica rapa on a regular basis for roots that might be sprouting or mollycoddle . If you have turnips that are sprouting , you may establish them in a pot with potting soil mixed for vegetables or herb and vegetables and harvest the greens .
Storing Your Turnip Roots in Your Freezer
Tofreeze turnip roots , wash and peel them and then cube them into 1/2 inch cubes . pale them in simmering water for two instant and then dowse them in ice water for three minutes . Place the Brassica rapa cubes on a biscuit sheet , cover them with freezer wrap , and commit them in your deep-freeze for two hours before transferring them to freezer bags or containers .
To foreclose freezer burning , remove as much of the air as possible from the freezer bags . you could store frozen Brassica rapa in your refrigerator ’s freezer compartment for nine month or in your deep Deepfreeze for a twelvemonth .
After dice your Brassica rapa , you also can roast them and then freeze them without pale , or you’re able to blanch them , mash them , and then freeze them .
