How and When to Harvest Turnips in the Garden
Turnips aren’t stodgy old root vegetables. The historic roots now come in new varieties that are versatile in cuisine with a sweet, crisp flavor, and tailored to raw eating or cooked dishes. Explore the ideal time to harvest the globes and their leafy tops for the best flavor with gardening expert Katherine Rowe.
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Turnips are multifaceted cool-season staples with healthy greens, tender, young roots, and robust harvests. The whole plant is consumable, with a powerhouse of nutrition in the leafy tops and hearty, sweet, smooth-fleshed roots. Once we know how to best harvest and use turnips, we soon enjoy their culinary delights, even without the threat of being denied dessert for not eating them.
The centuries-old root vegetable is a hearty stand-in for potatoes, mashed, roasted, or in stews and casseroles. Tender varieties move beyond the hearty standard to a sweet delicacy best enjoyed fresh.
The compact, easy-going vegetable grows well in the ground, containers, and raised beds. Here, we’ll explore what to look for in the perfect pick, how to harvest leaves and roots, and ways to preserve the bounty.
Turnip White Lady
Turnip White Lady Seeds
Purple Top White Turnip
Purple Top White Turnip Seeds
Superfoods Baby Greens
Superfoods Baby Greens Seeds
Turnip Basics
Thought to be one of the oldest crops, people have cultivated turnips for four thousand years. Pliny the Elder writes of turnips in his first-century writings on natural history. In the British Isles, hollowed and lit with embers, they became early jack-o-lanterns before the pumpkin.
Packed with nutrition, turnips (Brassica rapa subsp. rapa) are high in vitamins A, C, B, and E, as well as folic acid, potassium, and dietary fiber. They belong to the Brassicaceae family with cabbage, broccoli, and Brussels sprouts. They’re sometimes confused with rutabagas, which are similar but different plants. Enjoy turnips raw, cooked, or pickled.
Turnips produce rounded, slightly flattened roots, usually white, yellow, or white with purple shoulders. With origins in Central Asia and Western Europe, selections of turnips vary. European varieties are often the white-and-purple-tinged roots we’re familiar with in grocery stores. They have thicker skins and tolerate lengths of cold weather, even storing well in the ground.
Asian varieties present a delicacy (truly!) in their sweet flavor and crisp white flesh for fresh eating. With tender skins, the little globes are best enjoyed young in raw culinary applications, like grated on a salad or in a slaw, though they’re also delicious roasted.
Turnips are fast-growers, ready in 30-60 days from planting. Early varieties are harvest-ready in four to five weeks, with later ones in eight to ten weeks. The hardy vegetables tolerate frost and even heavy freezes.
Optimal growing conditions for the vigorous, easy-care producers include:
- Full sun (six plus hours of sunlight daily)
- Well-draining soil with organic enrichment
- Slightly acidic to neutral soil with a pH near 5.5 to 6.8
- Cool conditions in spring, fall, or winter (40-60°F or 4-16°C are ideal growing temperatures)
- About one inch of water per week (rainfall and irrigation)
Timing the Harvest
To gauge readiness, count out the days to mature fruits from your sowing date. The seed packet indicates this as “days to maturity” or “days.” Turnips develop quickly from seed, and the days to maturity give a good indicator of when to look for harvest-ready veggies. Pick turnips in the earlier stages for the best flavor.
Plant turnips from August to October for a fall crop, depending on your climate and first frost date in autumn. They grow all winter in zones 9 and 10. Fall crops bring the highest quality and store over the winter. You can also sow seeds in early spring for a late-season harvest.
The flavor of leaves and roots declines in hot weather, and growth may be stunted. Wait until the heat passes in late summer to sow. For spring plantings, harvest before summer’s early warmth.
Harvesting By Use
Since the entire plant is edible – deliciously so – there are options for harvest based on your preference for use.
Harvest turnips:
- For their nutritious leaves, only
- For leaves and roots
- For tender, young roots
With fall’s cool temperatures, leaves become sweeter tasting and can be used like arugula. Once picked, they’ll regrow for another round or two of harvesting until hard frost. When using turnips for both fresh greens and roots, leave inner leaves intact (about one-fourth) to continue supporting and nourishing the below-ground parts. Harvest portions of the leafy tops early in the season, leaving them attached as roots develop.
If just growing for the greens, sow seeds six inches apart, and don’t worry about thinning the crop. The leaves won’t mind the closeness as long as there is airflow. But, if growing for roots as well, they need space to develop. Thin seedlings to one foot apart. When thinning the crop, use the fresh sprouts in salads.
When To Pick
These in-ground vegetables become more visible as they’re ready for harvest. You’ll easily know when to clip leaves for the kitchen and keep an eye on developing turnips popping up above the soil surface.
Leafy Greens
When to harvest leafy tops relates to height and tenderness. Leaves take on the most flavor when temperatures drop into the 40s or below (~4°C).
Young, soft leaves are ready quickly when they reach four to five inches tall. The tender leaves are excellent raw or cooked. Pick leaves up to one foot tall for cooking; any bigger, they become thick, tough, and bitter. Older greens turn yellow and wither. Remove older leaves to promote new growth.
Roots
Harvest the globes when they’re two to three inches in diameter. Harvesting when small ensures they aren’t overly pungent, dense, or fibrous. Big roots become stringy, tough, and woody.
Shoulders are usually visible above the soil surface, so seeing their size is easy. Aim for golf ball size, rather than tennis ball size. This ensures they remain tender and tasty.
How To Pick
When it comes to the leaves, harvest a few at a time as needed or in bunches. To harvest selectively, choose from the outer leaves to allow inner ones to develop for a continual supply and support for the root.
If growing for tops only, reap a bunch by cutting off the tops two inches above the root. Use pruners or a sharp knife for a clean cut. In cool conditions, leaves regrow in two to three weeks.
To harvest the roots, use a spade or fork to lightly lift the surrounding soil, taking care not to damage the tubers. With the soil loosened, easily pull or pluck the turnip out while holding it by the stems. Cut the greens from the roots at harvest and wash and store them separately.
Storage
Use fresh turnip greens soon after harvesting for the best flavor. To store the bounty, first wash the leaves by swirling them in a bowl or bucket where excess dirt can settle to the bottom. They’ll last in the refrigerator for a week or so. Reserve any excess for freezing.
Roots store well over the winter in a cool, dry space like the refrigerator or a root cellar. You can also flash-freeze them for preservation. They last 12-18 months after blanching in frozen storage.
Freezing the Leaves
Freezing turnip greens and roots is a similar protocol that involves quick blanching to preserve flavor. After cleaning the greens, cut or tear them into pieces. Blanch small leaves whole.
Put them in boiling water for two minutes, followed by a chill bath in ice water for the same length of time. Drain and place the greens in an airtight container or bag, leaving half an inch of headspace. Store them in the freezer for eight to twelve months.
Freezing the Roots
Wash and peel thick-skinned varieties before cutting them into half-inch pieces. Blanch them for two to three minutes in boiling water, followed by an ice bath for a few minutes. Drain and transfer them to an airtight container or baggie to freeze the group.
To keep them accessible for use in small amounts (i.e., keeping the pieces from freezing together), place them on a parchment-lined baking sheet after blanching and cooling. Freeze the sheet until the pieces are firm, then transfer them to the container for long-term freezing.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why are my turnips small and bitter?
Hot weather, either lingering in early fall at an autumn sowing or in early summer if sown in spring, may cause stunted, bitter roots. The flavor of leafy greens and roots declines as temperatures rise. They thrive in cool season conditions, especially in fall, where the vegetables sweeten in the crisp weather.
What varieties have both tasty leaves and roots?
There are many selections prized for both leafy tops and tasty roots. Look for ‘Hakurei’ and ‘White Lady’ for tender salad turnips and greens and ‘Purple Top White Globe’ for an heirloom European variety. ‘Shogoin’ boasts high-quality leaves.
Can you grow turnip microgreens?
Have extra seeds? Grow microgreens right on the kitchen counter. Like other lettuces and leafy greens, turnips sprout quickly (usually within five days) and develop nutrient-rich micro and baby greens.