13 Delicious Root Vegetables You Should Grow This Year

What better way to embrace the full potential of your garden than growing root vegetables? These underground vegetables pack a delicious and nutritious punch. Join gardening expert Liessa Bowen on a tour of some familiar and some lesserknown root veggies you can grow in your own garden!

A close up shot of various harvested tubers, that you can grow root vegetables

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I love all types of vegetables. However, I am especially fond of root vegetables in the fall. I love the variety of shapes, textures, and complex flavors, drizzled with olive oil and seasonings, all roasting together in my oven on a cool autumn day. Mmmm!! If you’ve never tried growing root vegetables before, or if you’re looking for some variety in your garden and in your kitchen, give some of these tasty roots a try.

Root vegetables include tubers, bulbs, corms, and taproots. They are healthy, low in fat, high in fiber, and rich in vitamins. Root vegetables make a tasty addition to soups and stews, roasted or baked, mashed or fried. They are extremely versatile, and you’re sure to find some variations and new recipes that become favorites.

Since root vegetables grow underground, garden preparation is important. You’ll want your veggies growing in loose, high-quality soil so they can look, taste, and perform their best. Since you’ll be doing a lot of digging in the dirt, you’ll want to be prepared with comfortable gardening gloves, a trowel, and a garden fork for turning over the soil. 

No matter what time of year you start thinking about root vegetables, there’s probably something you can start. Some should be planted in the spring, while others are best planted in the fall. A few root vegetables love warm weather or should be started in the summer so they have time to mature in the cooler autumn air. So pay attention to your local climate and timing of planting to give your plants the best start possible.

Are you ready to start digging? Here are 13 delicious root vegetables you should try this year and helpful pro tips for each!

Turnip White Lady

Turnip White Lady

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Turnip White Lady Seeds

Early Wonder Red Beet

Illustration of Early Wonder Beet

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Early Wonder Beet Seeds

Shin Kuroda Carrots

Shin Kuroda Carrot Seeds

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Shin Kuroda Carrot Seeds

Beets

A focused shot of a beet covered in soil that also highlights its red-purple colored bulbs and stems that is placed on dirt in a well lit area outdoors.
These tubers thrive in cool weather conditions.

Beets are easy root vegetables to grow, offering deep red globes with a distinctive earthy flavor and excellent nutrition. Enjoy them steamed, roasted, or sliced and baked into crispy beet chips! As a bonus, their red and green leafy tops are also edible. Beet greens can be steamed, sautéed, or added to salads as baby greens.  

These root vegetables grow in spring or fall since they love cool weather. In warmer climates, you can grow beets in a protected bed during the winter. In more northern climates, they’re a welcome hardy crop because they’ll survive light frosts. Beets grow quickly and can be harvested anytime after the roots mature to ping-pong ball size or larger. Harvest the entire plant, separate the greens from the roots, and enjoy a very colorful meal!

Pro Tip: Don’t wait too long to harvest your beetroots. Jumbo-sized beets may look impressive, but they also tend to get woody and tough.

Carrots

A close-up shot of  person's hand holding freshly harvested, orange colored carrots of varying sizes from long and slender to thick and short.
They are versatile and can be used in various recipes.

Carrots are one of the most colorful root vegetables. These thick taproots range from just a few inches to foot-long giants. They can also be smooth and slender or thick and chunky. Most people first think of orange carrots but you can find these sweet, crunchy vegetables in shades of yellow, red, purple, white, and many different orange hues. 

Carrots are not only colorful, but they are also versatile. Kids and adults alike love to crunch on fresh carrots. You can also roast them or broil them, chop them into stews or salads, or shred them with a tasty slaw. Although the frilly green carrot tops are ornamental, most people don’t realize they’re also edible. Wash and chop them for use in soups and salads, or try blending them into a delicious pesto. 

When growing carrots, sow the seeds about two inches apart. As you thin them, especially as the plants grow larger, enjoy eating the young carrots you’ve thinned out. The thinning process becomes a first harvest. It allows you to enjoy an early snack and allows the remaining plants enough space to grow even larger.

Try ‘Shin Kuroda‘ carrots for heat-resistant, deep orange roots. ‘Little Finger‘ seeds grow great baby carrots.

Pro Tip: For nice straight carrots, direct sow seeds in loose, finely textured, well-drained soil. Carrots don’t like their roots disturbed, so do not transplant them. Heavy, rocky, or clay soils will cause your carrots to grow into weird, lumpy shapes as they try to navigate underground obstacles.

Celeriac

A close up shot of a celeriac tuber that showcases its unique appearance and is placed on a dirt ground in a well lit area outdoors.
This crop will greatly benefit from compost-rich soil.

Never eaten celeriac before? That’s okay; most people probably haven’t yet tried this gnarly-looking root vegetable. Celeriac is a member of the carrot family (Apiaceae) but doesn’t look or taste much like a carrot. Both the leaves and the bulky, bulbous root can be eaten raw or cooked. Chop it and add it to salads, soups, roasts, and purees. Celeriac is crunchy with a hint of slightly bitter, celery-like flavor. 

Celeriac is a heavy feeder that will benefit from compost-enriched soil. It also needs full sun and constant soil moisture to form dense, flavorful roots. You’ll need to be patient while growing this crop. Start seeds indoors in late winter or early spring, and you’ll finally be able to harvest mature plants about four months later. 

Pro Tip: Don’t worry if your celeriac roots look really messy when you harvest them. They generally appear as a tangled mass of fibrous roots attached to a lumpy, bumpy, gray-green bulb. Shake off the dirt, strip off the roots, and clean the bulb with a jet of water from the host. For the best flavor, wait until after the first frost to harvest, when some of the plant’s starches are converted to sugars for a richer, more complex flavor.

Daikon Radish

A close up shot of freshly harvested daikon radish tubers covered in dirt, highlighting its size and fresh white color that is placed on dirt in an outdoor area.
These tubers usually reach full maturity in early to mid-winter.

The daikon radish boasts an impressive size yet mild flavor. If you like radish but find it to be a bit too strong tasting, try a daikon radish for comparison. They can be shredded, sliced, pickled, roasted, or fried. Cook them in soups or broil them with a medley of other root vegetables. Once picked, they store well for several weeks in your refrigerator, so you don’t have to eat them all at once.

These jumbo-sized radishes are easy to grow, even through the winter in mild climates. Their big fleshy white taproots burrow down into the soil, loosening it nicely for your next crop. Direct sow daikons in rows or raised beds in early fall. They will reach maturity sometime in early to mid-winter. You’ll know your radishes are ready when the white tops peek out above the soil surface.

Pro Tip: Try to keep the soil uniformly moist while growing daikon radishes. Dry soil will cause tough, cracked, woody roots that aren’t very appetizing. Too much water, on the other hand, will cause root rot. Well-drained soil in sunny raised beds is ideal for growing these big, tasty radishes.

Garlic

A close up shot of a pile of freshly harvested garlic bulbs that showcases its varying colors from white to purple in a well lit area outdoors.
You can save a few cloves and replant them.

Mmmmmm, garlic. This pungent root vegetable can be used to flavor many of your favorite dishes, and it’s super easy to grow. While growing in the garden, this plant acts as a companion plant for many other crops because it helps deter many common insect pests, as well as deer and rabbits. 

It’s easy to incorporate garlic into your garden design. It doesn’t take up much room and thrives in the same conditions as most other garden vegetables. Use it to fill in gaps and odd spaces between plants, along rows, or in awkward corners. It grows well in raised beds and containers, too. Plant garlic cloves in the fall and harvest them the following summer when the stems turn yellow and fall over.

Pro Tip: Every time you harvest your garlic crop, save a few of the cloves to replant for your next round of garlic growing. Every clove you plant can yield an entirely new head of garlic. Save just one or two cloves from each head to expand your garlic patch so you’ll never run out!

Horseradish

A close up shot of freshly harvested columns of horseradish tubers covered in dirt with the stems and leaves still attached placed on top of a brown woven mat.
A member of the mustard family, these tubers thrive in cool conditions.

Yes, you can grow your own horseradish, and it’s surprisingly easy! Horseradish has a long, thick, taproot and broad, coarse, elongated leaves. The leaves grow in a dense bunch at the top of the root stalk. Both the roots and the leaves are edible, although most people grow horseradish for their sharp, zesty roots.

Add some serious zing to your garden. This tough and hardy plant is a member of the mustard family. You can start a new horseradish plant by placing pieces of the root in the ground at a 45-degree angle and covering them with about three inches of soil. These root sections will soon develop into mature plants. 

At harvest time, you can dig up the main taproot and divide it into a few segments. Save a section for your culinary projects and replant the rest for fresh starts. You can keep your horseradish patch going indefinitely. This is a perennial plant that thrives in cooler climates, although it tolerates warmer regions as well. Give it full sun and rich, moist, well-drained soil. 

Pro Tip: Horseradish is virtually trouble-free and you won’t need to do anything special to keep your patch going. That said, this plant is very persistent and spreads readily once established. Make sure you plant it in a location where it can become established, or try growing it in a large container to keep it entirely under control. 

Jerusalem Artichoke

A close up shot of a person wearing a black shirt and red o brown garden gloves holding a basket of freshly harvested jerusalem artichokes still covered in dirt.
These tubers can spread quickly by self-seeding.

Is Jerusalem artichoke a beautiful perennial flower, or is it a root vegetable? It’s both! Jerusalem artichoke is a variety of sunflower native to eastern North America. This is a tall and very robust plant that can reach 10 feet high. It spreads quickly into vigorous colonies by self-seeding and its tuberous roots. Fortunately, you can help control the spread by harvesting and eating the roots.

Despite the name, Jerusalem artichokes are not artichokes, nor do they resemble artichokes. They do, however, have a tasty tuber that somewhat resembles the crunchy, nutty flavor of water chestnuts. Sunchoke tubers can be sliced or shredded and eaten raw or cooked into soups or roast veggie dishes. If you’re concerned about the weedy nature of these plants, grow them in a large container and deadhead spent flowers. Then, they won’t be able to spread beyond the border of their containers. 

Pro Tip: Jerusalem artichokes are an excellent wildlife plant. The flowers bloom in late summer, attracting a multitude of pollinators. Cut some of the flowers to enjoy in your floral arrangements and leave a few to mature into seeds and feed your local fall and winter birds.

Onions

Freshly harvested onions display soil-covered, round bulbs with papery skin, and long, drooping green leaves still attached.
They thrive in well-draining soil rich in nutrients.

Onions are amazingly diverse root vegetables. These multi-layered bulbs may be white, yellow, or purplish-red. Their bulbs might be as big as a softball or smaller than a ping-pong ball. In stores, you’ll find them sold as white onions, yellow onions, red onions, sweet onions, shallots, and green onions. 

You can start onions in your garden from seed or from tiny onion bulbs known as onion sets. Obviously, the onion sets have a big head start over the seeds and will produce mature onions much faster. But if you have the time and patience, it can be very rewarding to start onions from seeds. Grow onions in well-drained, nutrient-rich soil. Add compost at planting time and fertilize every few weeks thereafter because these nutrient-rich vegetables need a lot of energy to grow large bulbs. 

Pro Tip: Don’t grow onions in the same place two years in a row. You’ll want to practice crop rotation and switch to different crops in alternating years. This will help prevent pests and diseases from building up and reinfecting the same crops in the same plot year after year. Try rotating between onions, tomatoes, cabbage, and squash. These plants are all different enough to make effective rotations.

Parsnips

A close up shot of a cluster of freshly harvested parsnips that are still covered in dirt, with its leaves still attached placed on a dirt ground in an area outdoors.
Harvest the parsnips when their roots are around an inch across.

Parsnips look like big, creamy white carrots. These robust root vegetables are perfect for growing in the fall and roasting as a seasonal roots dish or mashing with potatoes and garlic for an extra hearty flavor. Parsnips are easy to grow but will require some patience.

This hardy fall crop takes about four months to fully mature. Sow seeds in the spring and plan to have these vegetables occupy space in your garden through the summer. Harvest them when the roots are at least one inch across. Parsnips have a distinctive flavor that turns sweeter after they’ve been exposed to frost. You can also cover your parsnips with a layer of mulch and harvest anytime in winter or early spring before they start growing again.

Pro Tip: Don’t worry if you can’t eat all your parsnips at once. These root vegetables can be stored for up to six months. Remove the foliage, brush the soil from their roots, wrap them in plastic, and store them in the refrigerator until you’re ready to use them in your favorite recipe. 

Potatoes

Mountain Gem potatoes, fresh from the earth, showcase soil clinging to their skin, hinting at their natural origins. In the blurred background, a multitude of these potatoes adds to the bounty of the harvest.
These tubers thrive in a warm and sunny conditions.

If there’s one root vegetable that everyone has tried, it’s potatoes. These popular tubers can be baked, roasted, mashed, scalloped, fried, shredded, sliced, and diced. Potatoes are not only popular, they’re also colorful. White or beige potatoes are the norm, but you’ll also find yellow potatoes, red potatoes, and even potatoes with purple flesh. Baby potatoes are perfect for a roasted medley, while the large baking potatoes are ideal for smothering with your favorite toppings.

If you enjoy eating potatoes, you’ll probably also enjoy growing them. You can grow these tuberous root vegetables in a warm, sunny plot with rich, moist, well-drained soil. In compact gardens, grow them in a container or raised bed. If you maintain a large garden, you can grow several rows of potatoes and have plenty to store for fall and winter. 

Pro Tip: While you can grow a new potato plant from a store-bought potato, consider starting with certified disease-free seed potatoes. Seed potatoes have been treated and tested to ensure that they are free of any diseases that can plague your potato crop and other plants that you may want to grow afterward. A seed potato is not actually a seed, but rather a small potato tuber that’s extremely easy to plant and grow and will produce identical offspring so you’ll always know exactly what type of potato you’re growing.

Radish

A focused shot of freshly harvested cherry belle radish tubers, still covered in dirt with the leaves still attach that is placed on a dirt ground in an area outdoors.
These tubers develop quickly.

Radishes are quick and easy to grow root vegetables that don’t take up much space. These zesty little root vegetables are rounded and colorful, and when they’re ready to pick, you’ll see their tops poking out of the soil, begging to be harvested. Harvest them by the handful and store them in the fridge until you’re ready to use them; it’s as simple as that. 

Radishes are a cool-weather crop for spring or fall. You can easily plant radishes, watch them grow, and harvest them in time for the next season’s crop to be planted. Start radish seeds directly in your garden, raised bed, or container garden. Fast-maturing varieties are ready to harvest in as little as three weeks, while slower-maturing varieties take up to two months. 

Try ‘Mantanghong Watermelon Radish‘ for spicy roots with vibrant pink flesh and green skins.

Pro Tip: Radishes are an excellent crop for succession planting. Would you like to extend your radish season beyond a single planting? Directly sow fresh seeds every two weeks for a continuous harvest over a longer period.

Sweet Potatoes

Freshly harvested sweet potatoes, their purple skins gleaming, lie atop dark, nutrient-rich soil, promising earthy sweetness. A sturdy shovel rests nearby, hinting at the labor that brought forth this bounty, with lush foliage providing a picturesque backdrop.
These crops thrive in warm weather conditions.

Sweet potatoes are not related to potatoes but rather a member of the morning glory family. These are ornamental vines with heart-shaped leaves. They’re commonly used as an ornamental ground cover or to create cascading container gardens. While sweet potato vines don’t bloom often, when they do, their pink, white, or bicolor flowers closely resemble morning glories. 

Though they’re technically enlarged tuberous stems (not root vegetables), sweet potatoes grow belowground and don’t require any special gardening skills. You’ll need a sunny plot with enough space for your vines to sprawl. These are heat-loving plants for your summer garden. You can start your own sweet potato slips from an organic store-bought or farmer’s market tuber. These slips will become new vines and, by the end of the summer, will have produced their own underground tubers for you to dig and enjoy!

Pro Tip: Before storing sweet potatoes for any length of time, you’ll need to cure them. Place your harvested sweet potatoes in a warm, humid location for five to 10 days. This process helps convert starches to sugars, improves the flavor, and helps dry these root vegetables enough so they won’t rot in storage. After the curing process, they can be stored for several months at a temperature of 55 to 60°F (13-16°C).

Turnips

Close-up of a gardener's hand holding three plants with round white and purple roots, topped by thin stems with clusters of dark green leaves.
These veggies love sunlight and rich soil with adequate moisture.

Turnips are an easy-to-grow root vegetable with a distinctive sweet-spicy flavor. They offer a bountiful fall crop that can be added to stews and roasted vegetable medleys mashed into a creamy side dish. There are many colorful varieties of turnips to tickle your taste buds including extra mild cultivars for those who aren’t entirely sure they love these unique veggies.

Luckily for those of us who love turnips, they are quick and easy to grow. All you need is a sunny plot with rich, moist soil with good drainage. This is a cool-season crop typically grown in the fall although you can also grow them in the spring in cooler climates. Turnips don’t like mid-summer heat so it’s best to direct sow them in early fall and allow them to mature during cooler weather. Turnips mature within 30 to 60 days, depending on the variety. 

Try ‘White Lady‘ for a tasty, refreshing, mild snack that can be enjoyed fresh. 

Pro Tip: Sow the seeds one to two inches apart. As the plants germinate and mature, keep thinning them so there is a couple of inches of space between each plant. As you thin the smaller plants, you’ll be harvesting tiny turnips as well. Use these baby turnips to slice thin in salads for a zesty topping. The young leaves are also edible and quite tasty. Use them as a peppery addition to your baby greens salads!

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I grow root vegetables in raised beds?

You can easily grow root vegetables in raised beds. Smaller vegetables like carrots and red radishes are ideal because you can pack many of these into a more compact space. If you’re growing larger vegetables like daikon radish and Jerusalem artichokes, you may find yourself somewhat limited by space. If you only want to grow a few of these larger plants, however, then raised bed gardening should work out very well.

Can I grow root vegetables in containers too?

You can grow any root vegetable in containers just as well as raised beds. Again, limited space will restrict the number of plants you can grow, but if you have a container garden, don’t let it stop you from growing anything you want!

Which root vegetables can I start from seed?

You can grow just about any root vegetable from seed. Potatoes and sweet potatoes are generally not grown from seed but rather from seed potatoes and young vine slips. Onions and garlic can be grown from seed but are generally started from onion sets, small bulbs, and cloves. Carrots, beets, radishes, and turnips are all very easy to grow from seed.

What are the fastest root vegetables to grow?

Are you looking for the fastest root vegetables to grow from seed to harvest? Baby carrots, baby beets, turnips, and radishes all mature very fast. Some varieties of radish can be harvested in as little as three weeks, and smaller carrots can be harvested in as little as five or six weeks. If you can wait eight weeks for your first harvest, try beets and turnips.

Can I grow root vegetables over the winter?

Several types of root vegetables love cooler weather. If you live in a mild climate, you can grow some of these in your garden even during the winter. Use floating row covers, a mini portable greenhouse, or a cold frame to extend your growing season for cool-season vegetables.

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