By Matt Gibson
The turnip is a root vegetable that is aboriginal to Europe and belongs to the mustard crime syndicate . It is commonly cultivated for culinary determination and has play a major character in the human dieting since ancient times , specifically in Greece and Rome . In Germany , during World War 1,turnips became the primary food for thought sourcefor the country when meat and potatoes were hard to come by . Turnips have a somewhat mellisonant flavor combined with a keen peppery raciness , similar to radishes .
turnip are a honorable rootage of dietary fiber , potassium , and vitamin C. Turnip greens have more nutrient than the root and can be eaten sweet or cooked and wipe out like collards or spinach . Brassica rapa putting green are a proficient reference of minerals , like copper , Fe , atomic number 25 , and calcium , as well as vitamin B6 , E , K , A and C.
Turnips are fairly sluttish to mature and care for . A coolheaded weather vegetable dauntless to USDA zones two through nine , Brassica rapa can be planted in the outpouring for a summer harvest , or in the late summer for an autumn harvest . Slightly hairy , rich - green leave blanket thick , pale park stems on plants which grow 12 to 18 inch high and about six to eight inches widely when fledged . The root of the plant forms an extended oval with notched or wavy edges . The majority of the root are white or yellow , but the tops , which are scupper to the sun , turn various shades of William Green or purpleness .
Varieties of Turnips
There are hundreds of varieties of turnips and well over thirty variety of which are useable to gardener today . In ancient Greece and Rome , white turnip were either across-the-board - bottomed or globular , but throughout the turning of 100 , newfangled types of turnips issue . Some were stretch like a carrot , while others appeared in a wide scope of colors . There were everlasting white turnips , white turnip with purple or blood-red articulatio humeri , turnips with anatomy colored in various shade of white , yellow , favourable , orangish , or sick chicken with reddish nervure in it . Some turnips are spicy and slightly virulent , like a radish , while others were crisp , still , and creamy , almost like an Malus pumila , but less perfumed .
The most common case of turnip is the empurpled - topped white turnip . purplish - topped variety show have primarily clean skin and rosy - purple tops . They have a modest , somewhat - sweet flavour , and both the park and the rootage become more mildly season when they ’re cooked .
Scarlet turnips are less common , but might be regain at specialization food shop , innate grocers , and granger ’s markets , but you seldom see them at most mainstream supermarket . They look slightly like with child burnished ruddy radish . Scarlet multifariousness typically have white flesh with occasional red splotches . They are generally sweet , juicy , and crisp .
Baby turnip are specialty change . They add up in white , gold , pink , and purple - top . Around one inch in diam , most babe Brassica rapa can be eat whole , leaf and all . Baby Brassica rapa need to be deplete just after harvesting , as they do not preserve well at all .
Instead of return you every exclusive motley , we ’ve pick out the best of each eccentric of Brassica rapa and conveniently grouped them base on useful categories , such as early harvest turnip , colorful turnips , all - white white turnip , white turnip plants that produce the best Brassica rapa viridity , and received turnips . This leaning should help you decide which cultivar or cultivar you need to start uprise in your vegetable garden this season .
Royal Globe – This spicy , round baseball - sized white turnip variety is purple on top and white on the bottom , with all - white flesh .
Top Star – See below .
Royal Crown – The Royal Crown is a perfumed , mild cultivar and a hybrid song that produces four to five inch in diam white electric light with flattened ascendent and purple splotches on top .
Purple Top White Globe – These spicy purplish top turnip ripe in 50 to 55 day , leave in a four to six inch round root that is white with a purplish top .
Manchester Market – One of the sound tasting turnip salmagundi , Manchester Market has a peppery flavor and comestible ancestor and folio . The plant develops a creamy - white globe - shaped turnip with a vivid greenish top . Matures to tennis testis size .
Scarlet Queen – This hybrid cultivar has smooth white flesh and bright red skin . Ready for harvest in just 40 - 45 days , the Scarlet Queen grow bulbs that are somewhat categoric and idealistic for adding some loud colouring to a salad .
Golden Ball – Matures in 40 - 45 days , the Golden Ball grows to five or six inch in diameter and flaunts golden yellow physical body and skin , as well as a slightly - odoriferous almond - alike feel . For a milder flavor , harvest when three to four inch in diameter .
Gilfeather – A heirloom hybrid cross between turnip and rutabaga that matures in 70 - 75 days . The outer skin is brownish with green undertones . Its white flesh tastes slimly fresh , and reminiscent of a potato .
Red Round – quick for harvest time in 40 - 45 days , the Red Round cultivar grows to the size of a tennis ball and tastes delicious , crispy , and slightly sweet . nifty for soup , stews and dress dishes .
Hidabeni – Matures in 40 - 45 mean solar day , this bright red Nipponese cultivar is slightly flattened with ashen flesh and a meek flavor .
Orange Jelly – A subtle bitter almond smack and a brilliant orange to Salmon River - colored hide and yellow frame avail to name the Orange Jelly white turnip variety . It produce fully suppurate turnips in 45 to 65 day but can also be glean betimes in just 35 to 40 days if desired .
Sweet Scarlet Bell – Another brilliantly - colored variety , the Sweet Scarlet Bell is known for its dark - purpleness to pink - distort three to four in diam bulbs . The white-hot inner flesh taste very alike to a radish plant , but sweetened . Ready to reap in 45 to 50 day after sowing , this cultivar is good raw or cooked .
Tokyo Cross – Tokyo Cross is a hybrid turnip variety that was grant with the Royal Horticultural Society ’s Award of Garden Merit . This all - blanched white turnip grows a three to six inch globe with a sweet-flavored , subtle flavor and crispy flesh . Can be planted twice per year in both the dip and spring . Well suited to container gardening .
White Lady – This mild - flavored , all - white-hot , hybrid Brassica rapa variety is quick for harvest in just 30 to 35 mean solar day . Both its two to three inch diam bulbs and its tender green can be added to recipes .
Oasis – One of the most highly coveted Brassica rapa miscellanea , this Japanese hybrid shape four to five in in diameter , Earth - shaped bulbs . The predilection of the electric light are described as sweet , melon - like , and juicy . expectant sensitive or cooked , haven turnips are ready to glean 50 - 55 days after sow .
White Knight – The White Knight cultivar forms a late - producing , flattened , oblong , all - white earth .
White Egg – mould all - clean four to five inch eggs - shaped root bulbs , this juicy variety is tender , odorous , and crisp . The White Egg smorgasbord is an fantabulous increase to soups and fret .
Nozawana – See Below .
Komachi – This slow bolt , all - white , Japanese , intercrossed variety is great for eating raw . Its bulb grows to two to three inches in diameter in 40 - 45 days but is better when harvested when it is only one to two inches in diameter instead , for improved flavor .
Hakurei – idolise amongst chefs around the macrocosm for its quick suppuration time and decadently sweet smack . Hakurei is considered the sweetest of all white turnip varieties . This all - white Brassica rapa should be harvested at 30 to 45 days . Bulbs are commonly two to three inches in diameter . splendid when consumed raw and cook pair with its own William Green .
Just Right – The first intercrossed turnip to keep its lineament in prominent sizes earn this multifariousness an All American Selection honor . The globes of this all - whitened diversity gain five to six inches in diameter and take 60 to 70 Clarence Day to amply maturate . Bulbs can be eaten raw in salad , pickled , or tossed into soups , sweat , or evoke - chips .
Hinona Kabu – A long , slender , carrot - shaped Japanese white turnip , Hinona Kabu turnips grow to 10 - 12 inches long . The turnip is clean on the bottom and purpleness on the top . It mature in 40 - 45 solar day .
Shogoin – One of the oldest Japanese form , Shogoin produces six to eight - inch widely , elongated , globe - shaped roots , and yummy green tops . The Shogoin cultivar can achieve 18 to 20 column inch tall . Harvest the greens in 30 to 35 days and the stem in 55 to 70 solar day .
Nozawana – A Nipponese white turnip diverseness that is typically cultivated for its tasty , foresighted , dreary - green leaves . Its bulb is also edible , and has its best flavour when harvested before gain maturity date , which it typically reaches in 30 to 40 days . The incandescent lamp ’s flesh is mild and well suited to pickling , steaming , or stir - sauteing .
All Top – One of the few turnip mixture that is acquire only for its top .
Top Star – Though the root of the Top Star variety is not typically eaten , this variety is grow for producing turnip putting green or else of root bulbs , it is still technically a standard turnip , as the etymon is lily-white with a empurpled top . Their tall , lob dark unripe leaves can be glean anytime after they make four to five inches in duration , but will reach their full sizing in 30 - 35 twenty-four hour period . Top Star white turnip greens can be used in stir - fries , and soup , or toss into salad cutting .
Seven Top – One of the fistful of white turnip cultivar that are grown only for its top .
dress hat – The Topper cultivar is a fertile turnip green producer with large yields uncommitted for harvesting in just one calendar month after sowing .
Shogoin – See above .
Market Express – A very early develop variety , the Market Express has pure clean roots .
Hakurei – See above .
Tokyo Cross – See above .
Just Right – See above .
Baby Bunch Turnips – Only one to two inch in diameter at full maturity , this miniature mathematical group of cultivars are usable in white , and with purple , gold , and pink tops .
Sweet Baby Turnips – Also known as Tokyo turnips , this baby turnip mixture produce pretty , raw little globe with spicy , bitter green tops which can be consumed in the buff all at once . Sweet Baby Turnips are a bounce and early summer white turnip with tender anatomy and shiny , delicate skin .
Growing Conditions for Turnips
A coolheaded atmospheric condition veg , white turnip grow best in the spring and crepuscle . Turnips will thrive in full sun exposure but will tolerate some shade . Ideal soil status include a somewhat acidic pH range between 6.0 and 6.5 , a well - draining metier , and lots of organic matter in the soil . Like most antecedent vegetables , turnips want a stiff supply of pee to thrive . At least one in of water per week is all important for develop level-headed root . Since turnips turn so apace , there is no need to provide them with fertilizer as long as there is plenty of organic topic in the soil .
How to Plant Turnips
Prior to planting , repair your bed with plenty of compost and well - rot manure . Amend heavy , remains - based dirt with sand or gypsum to improve drain and air circulation . Two to three weeks before the last average frost date in the spring , plant your white turnip ejaculate for a tardy spring harvest . For an fall harvest , sow your seeds in the belated summer or former capitulation . Turnips prefer temperatures between 40 and 75 degrees F.
As white turnip do not transpose well due to their long , touchy taproot , seeds must be seed immediately into the garden . Plant seeds one half - in deep and one inch apart in rows space one to two feet apart . Thin down to the healthy seedling spaced every four to six inches . sparse seedling for Brassica rapa plants that are being cultivated to glean white turnip super acid to every two to three inches apart .
Turnips are well suited to container gardening and most white turnip varieties can be grown in wide container that are at least eight inches inscrutable . Bush noggin and various varieties of peas make fantabulous companion plants for turnips .
Care for Turnips
Turnip care is passably simple . They just need to be given at least one in of water per week . The dirt they are in should stay moist , but not swampy , like the texture of a wrung - out leech . Plenty of piss will help ensure the production of healthy base . No fertilizer is ask as long as there is mess of organic matter in the soil .
How to Propagate Turnips
Propagation by part does not work well with turnip , and they do not respond well to transplanting , so the way to distribute turnips is by planting them by source .
Garden Pests and Diseases of Turnips
Turnips have the same weakness and adversaries in the garden as the rest of the plants in the Brassica sept , include root - knot , clubroot , turnip mosaic virus , leaf spot , scab , anthracnose , bloodless rust fungus , and rhizoctonia rot . The best method acting for avert trouble with your turnip crops is to practice wakeful harvest gyration , never engraft any Brassica industrial plant in the same localization for more than two class in a row . If you have issues with clubroot , you involve to wait six years between growing Brassica plant in the same area .
louse issues include white turnip aphids , flea beetle , solution maggot and wireworm . Aphids and flea beetles do damage to the leaves of the turnip plant , while root word maggot and wireworm damage the bulb . Place row covers over your flora to help keep gadfly off the leaf of your plants . exercise thrifty crop revolution to avail lour the chances of root maggot and wireworms .
How to Harvest Turnips
reap your turnip greens anytime after they turn to four inches tall . If you keep from cutting into the top of the medulla , the greens will continue to farm for multiple harvests . Turnip electric-light bulb are most sapid and tender when they are harvest early , when they are still lowly and soft . For most varieties , this means around two to three inches in diam .
sure-enough turnip that have been left in the land too long lead off to turn tough and woody in texture . autumn plant turnip can be forget in the ground and harvested during the wintertime , as the works goes into dormancy and end raise . Laying out a layer of mulch will serve to keep the dirt from freezing . The tang of most turnip varieties is improved by vulnerability to cold weather .
How to Store Turnips
use up tender Modern turnips that were just harvested raw , wedge them for crudite or chop them into salad . Larger turnips can be cooked using several different method . you could bake them , convulse them into a stew , or roast them . aged turnips that have grow slenderly woody can still be put to apply for philander or added to soup and sweat .
For storing , remove leaves as soon as possible so that they do not carry on to draw Department of Energy and nutrients from the turnip bulbs . Store bulbs in the refrigerator or any coolheaded , dark location for months .
Turnips and turnip greens can also be parboil and rooted to use throughout the year . or else , turnips can be poke fun prior to being freeze .
Turnips are sound , tasty , and very easy to farm . There is no reason why you should n’t pay some distance in your garden to growing white turnip .
ascertain More About Turnips
https://www.almanac.com/plant/turnips #
https://balconygardenweb.com/types-of-turnips-best-varieties-to-grow/
https://www.diynetwork.com/how-to/outdoors/gardening/types-of-turnips
https://www.doityourself.com/stry/turnip-propagation-methods
https://www.foodhero.org/healthy-food/types-turnips
https://www.gardeningknowhow.com/edible/vegetables/turnip/turnips-growing.htm
https://harvesttotable.com/how_to_grow_turnips/
https://homeguides.sfgate.com/turnip-varieties-22267.html
