Turnip Silky White F1

A breeding breakthrough of taste and texture. Crisp and extremely sweet and juicy, best picked when small. Matures quickly (65 days) so you can enjoy a continuous supply of delicious salad Turnips.

How to Grow Turnip from Seed

Smaller and less woody that the large turnips of old, modern turnip varieties can be grated and eaten raw in salads or root-veg coleslaws and make a delicious side-dish, leaving the larger swede for mashing or adding to stews and casseroles.

Turnips are best harvested once they reach the size of a golf ball or a slightly larger, they become less tender and lose flavour as they get larger so sowing every couple of months and harvesting young and sweet is the favoured approach.

Turnips seeds must be sown where they will grow, as they cannot tolerate even slight root disturbance. Sow thinly directly into drills and cover the seeds with 1 inch of soil. Your turnips will eventually require 3 to 4 inches spacing, but the seed are small so some thinning is likely to be required once the seedlings are large enough, usually around 2 inches tall..

Keeping the seed bed slightly moist until germination takes place, this is normally within three to five days, then continue to water the young plants evenly every seven to ten days.

Keep the soil around your turnips weed free, but avoid disturbing the turnip's feeder roots and don’t neglect watering in dry periods as this helps to avoid woody texture and split skins.

Turnip greens are edible and are best harvested when they are small 10 to 15 cm (4 to 6 inches) for the sweetest flavour, leaving the inner, less developed leaf tips to grow again, giving you a second harvest a few days later. However, if you want to harvest the turnip root, only harvest the greens once since harvesting the greens inhibits growth of the root.

Turnips are hardy to autumn frosts and may be sweetened by cool weather. A heavy straw mulch extends the harvest into early winter. Turnips roots store well in a refrigerator.