How to grow them
Sow thinly in short rows every few weeks and thin to 15cm. They are ready in six to ten weeks and are useful for filling gaps.
Cabbage family
Turnips
Fast, and far better small. Pulled at golf-ball size they are sweet enough to eat raw.
- Buy as
- Seed
- Space
- 15cm between plants, 30cm between rows
- Position
- Sun or light shade
- Rotation
- Cabbage family
- Difficulty
- Easy
The year
Sow outdoors
Harvest
When to pick
Pull early ones at the size of a golf ball. Maincrop turnips sown in July can be left until autumn.
What goes wrong
Problems, and what to do
Flea beetle
Fleece over seedlings.
Woody roots
Left too long or kept too dry.
Good neighbours: Peas.
Same family
More from cabbage family
CabbagesWith the right varieties you can cut a cabbage in every month of the year.
KaleThe toughest green on the plot. It stands through snow and feeds you in the hungry gap.
Broccoli (calabrese)The green broccoli of the supermarket, ready in about twelve weeks.
Purple sprouting broccoliIt takes nearly a year, and repays you with fresh greens when the plot has little else.
Brussels sproutsA long wait and a lot of space, for sprouts that taste nothing like the boiled ones of memory.
CauliflowersThe hardest of the family to grow well, and the most satisfying when you do.
SwedesA winter root that looks after itself. It is a brassica, so it goes in the cabbage bed.
RadishesSeed to plate in four weeks. The crop to sow with children, or between slower rows.