Garden results: Turnip

FACTOID: Turnips are in the cabbage family.

Turnips take about two to three times as long as radishes to mature, about 8 to 9 weeks. Of course they are quite a bit larger and have a different taste and texture. I've harvested one batch of turnips (purple tops) this season while they were a bit on the small/young side because I wanted to taste fresh young turnip roots. I can tell you they were sweet and juicy. Unbelievable compared to the often over mature and/or wilting (non-fresh) turnip roots I normally find in grocery stores these days. I have a new crop still growing. This time I have purple tops and red rounds both growing. One set of purple tops got too hot during a warm weather week in July and seem to have stopped growing. However, the other set of purple tops (planted alongside the red rounds) are growing fine. Turnips are more likely to get attacked by pests than radishes, as they are a large sweet root which is also a bit softer than a radish root and don't have that radish sting. I have run into a little bit of a problem with slugs/snails and even small ants attacking turnip roots. A bit of slug bait takes care of half of that and growing in a good size container rather than the ground seems to have remedied the ant issue. Just like it's cousin the radish, the leaves are good as greens. Just as with radish roots, turnip root skin is also easily peeled. I do not know what turnips are like that go to seed, as I have not had any do so.

FACTOID: A type of turnip called a "rape" is grown for it's seeds to make cooking oil out of, canola oil to be exact. Until a couple months ago I had no idea canola oil was from turnips seeds! (Rape may be more of a kale. I've never grown it.)