~ TURNIP Seed ~
When to sow?
There are basically two options:
To eat Turnips in summer and autumn: sow from spring
to midsummer (the most normal timing)
To eat Turnips in winter: You need Maincrop types. Sow
midsummer, eat fresh when small in autumn, and lift for storage overwinter.
= normal sowing / harvest times
= alternative or experimental sowing / harvest times
~ First-early Turnips ~
for spring sowing & harvest in June
  
  
Bianca Piatta Quarantina WHITE
In our turnip trials, there were two really good first-early turnips,
this one and the Red-Flat-top listed below.
This one is a brilliant-white flat turnip from Italy,
making good 3 inch roots in about 40 days.
It has a very mild, sweet flavour and a very soft texture.
It's not huge, but a decent size, and very quick, and
we think it is a great one to sow at the start of the season for the
earliest turnips of the year.
Order TuBP - 2g of seed £1.33
Red Early Flat-top RED
This is the other first-early that did very well.
It makes nice round flat roots in about 40 days too,
this time a nice deep red (or purple) all over the top where it sticks
out of the soil.
It is a bit denser-fleshed and stronger-tasting than
the white one above, but is still nice and mild.
From France, this is another excellent one to sow at
the start of the season for the earliest turnips of the year.
Order TuRF - 2g of seed £1.33
~ Maincrop Turnips
~
for Spring Sowing & harvest in July ,
or for Summer Sowing & harvest in autumn
 
Giant Limousin Turnip
This one is reputed to be the most productive of all the old French
traditional varieties. It is a maincrop round-ball white type.
Sown in Spring, it will come ready a just after midsummer,
at the start of July. You can also resow after midsummer for harvest
in Autumn.
It is famous for reaching 10 - 12 inches diameter
if left in the ground, but to be honest, you might prefer them a
bit smaller as Ben is holding on the left.
We did try them leaving them to get bigger - and
the one in the photo on the right was perfectly tender even at that
size!
We found this one to have a fantastic flavour that
was a bit less 'turnipy' and subtly different from all the others,
and it was without any hardness even when large.
Do try it cooked with Paul's fabulous recipe: roast
turnip wedges with mustard and honey glaze - mmmm!
Order TuGL - 2g of seed £1.58
'Navet de Nancy' Turnip
A classic French variety, from the seedhouse of Catros Gerand. We shall
leave the description to M Vilmorin, writing in the 1870's:
"A handsome
form of the Early Flat Purple-Top turnip,
remarkable for it's earliness, the regularity of the shape,
and the very deep colour of the upper part of the root."
The strain we have today is almost identical 130 years
later, except that the leaves are less deeply cut . We like this one
because it has a good flavour without being overwhelmingly strong or
bitter, and because you can also eat the leaves cooked like spinach.
(Not all varieties have nice-tasting leaves, but this one is particularly
good.)
Round turnip, red/purple on top. Always hugely
popular
Order TuNN - 2g of seed (lots!) £1.33
  'Petrowski' Turnip
We did some more turnip trials this year (2008) , and we found this great yellow turnip from Eastern Europe. It is particularly sweet and mild, and was in great demand all summer.
We also discovered that it has leaves that are nice cooked. So save the tops and boil them separately, like chard or any other green. Here you can see them served with butter, it makes a very nice side dish.
Order TuPe - 2g of seed (lots!) £1.49
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