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Don’t think just because summer is ending that your gardening has to stop because you can plant a cool weather crop called turnips. You don’t have to bother with plants because turnips grow better from seed and the seed can be sown in the fall, winter and spring for gardeners who live in the south. For gardeners who reside in the north then your best sowing and growing seasons for turnips are in the fall and spring.
When you plant you turnip seeds make sure your rows are wide or even just a single row of them will work well and sow your seed 1 to 2 inches apart. Your turnips will sprout quickly and once your seedlings are about 3 inches tall then you can thin them to 3 or 4 inches apart unless you want turnip greens which are only thinned to 2 or 3 inches apart.
Keep your soils watered well, not allowing your soil to dry out because turnips will require constant watering to grow quickly. When you have a strong flavored and woody turnip you can be sure it was a slow growing turnip.
Don’t let your turnips get large. You should harvest your turnips when they are 2 to 4 inches in size or they will become bitter and pithy. Make sure your soil is moist and they will pull out of the ground easily. Going for turnip greens? Then pick the green when they are young, using thinned seedlings is a good idea for greens as they will be very tender. Give your soil some good organic fertilizer and high nitrogen mix is you are going for turnip greens. But if you are only wanting the turnips for a root vegetable ignore that advice.
Turnips are a fast growing crop and the fastest is the pure white Hakurei which can be harvested in 38 days. Another good producer of 2 to 6 inch pure white roots is the Tokyo Cross Hybrid that can be harvested in 35 days. If you want the traditional purple and white colored turnip then plant the Purple Top White Globe which can be harvested in 58 days.
Root maggots are a known pest for turnips and Clubroot is a known turnip disease. Turnips will companion planting well with anything in the onion family and any kind of peas.
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Author Bio Box: Arlene Wright Correll
 For more gardening or cooking information click http://www.learn-america.com/
To see Arlene’s Gardens and to read her gardening diaries and to take a walk through her pictorial garden or click on Arlene’s Books where you can download or buy her gardening & cook books, including her new book, “The ABC’s of Wine and Beer Making”. Many of her articles written for Greenthumbarticles have paintings she has created of the subject and they can be seen at her “How to Do It” site. Remember to check out her artwork, especially of her fruits and vegetables. Arlene says, “All my royalties from the sale of my books go to the St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital and I thank you for visiting my site.”
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