Turnips: sowing and growing
Want to sow and grow your own turnips? These fast-growing white roots look a little like large radishes. You can also harvest the young leaves as turnip greens.
What are turnips?
Meiraapjes horen bij de kruisbloemfamilie, net als de radijs, rucola, paksoi en palmkool.
De knolletjes groeien vlak onder het blad, aan de top van de wortel. De platte groenwitte knollen hebben gelig/wit vlees met een pittig/zoetige smaak. Je kunt het rauw eten, maar ook gekookt of in roerbakgerechten.
De plantjes groeien razend snel: in een paar weken tijd heb je bossen vol heldergroen blad. Dat blad is misschien nog wel lekkerder dan de raapjes zelf, en twee keer zo gezond. Je kunt meiraapjes dan ook prima als raapstelen kweken: dan zaai je dichter op elkaar en oogst je alleen het blad.
De meiraap wordt in Frankrijk, België, Nederland en Italië geteeld. In Duitsland is het al vele honderden jaren een specialiteit.
Meiraapjes en raapstelen zijn super gezond
Meiraapjes zijn super gezond: rijk aan vitamine C en ook behoorlijk wat calcium, vitamine K en mangaan.
Het blad is nog veel gezonder: daarin zit minstens 3 x zoveel vitamine C, 6x zoveel calcium en maar liefst 250x zoveel vitamine K. Bovendien zit er extreem veel vitamine A in, en dat zit weer niet in de knollen. Eet dus vooral én het blad én de raapjes zelf.
De groente helpt bij darmproblemen, allerlei ziektes (waaronder Alzheimer en kanker), versterkt het afweersysteem en voorkomt onstekingen.
Handig om te weten: als je het blad op kleine wonden legt - zoals snij- of schaafwondjes - genezen deze sneller.
More about Makkelijke Moestuin turnip seeds
This turnip variety is slow to bolt, making it well suited to our climate.
You can start harvesting the leaves after about five weeks. In 10-12 weeks, you'll have lovely, flattened round turnips, somewhere between a golf ball and a tennis ball in size.
- Variety: 'Platte Witte Mei'
- Family: brassicas
- Plants per square: 9
- Height: 25-40 cm
- Sowing season: March-April and August to mid-September
- Sowing depth: 0.5-1 cm
- Germination: 7-14 days at 10-25°C
- Time to harvest: leaves from five weeks, turnips from ten weeks
- Sunlight: sun or partial shade
What do you need to grow your own turnips?
- een vak van 30x30 cm
- Makkelijke Moestuingrond of Makkelijke Moestuin mix
- een plek met minstens 6-8 uur zonlicht per dag
How do you sow and grow turnips?
These turnips are included in the free Makkelijke Moestuin app. Use it and it will guide you from seed to harvest.
Every vegetable goes through a series of stages, which we call levels. The app tells you exactly what to do at each level and regularly asks you to check whether your plants are ready for the next one.
You don't need to know how to grow turnips before you start. But if you'd enjoy a preview, here's what the whole process looks like.
Level 1: sowing turnips
Loosen the mix in a square near the middle of your raised bed, then sow as follows:
Make nine holes in the square, no deeper than 1 cm.
Put two or three seeds in each hole.
Gently cover the holes.
Depending on the weather and time of year, you'll see the first green shoots in about 7-14 days.
Level 2: turnip seedlings
When the first seedlings appear, you know things are going well. They probably won't all emerge at once, but most should be up after another week.
Then it's time for the next level.
Level 3: thinning turnips
Now leave the strongest seedlings and snip off the rest. That can be hard to do, but it gives your plants the space they need to grow healthily.
It's especially important for turnips, because they need room to form plump roots. If the plants stay too close together, you'll get leaves rather than turnips.
There's nothing else you need to do.
Level 4: caring for your turnip plants
After about two weeks, your seedlings will have become small plants.
There's still very little to do over the next few weeks: water regularly in dry weather and remove any dead or yellow leaves now and then. Easy!
Level 5: harvesting the leaves
About four or five weeks after sowing, the first turnip plants are ready for you to harvest some leaves.
Cut the largest leaves at the base of the plant. As long as you leave the growing centre and a third of the leaves, the plants will keep growing.
Harvest leaves regularly over the coming weeks, taking a generous amount. Otherwise the plants can get too big and shade their neighbours.
Level 6: harvesting turnips
At this stage, reached no earlier than about 10-12 weeks after sowing, the first turnips are ready to harvest.
To check, brush away a little mix at the base of the leaves. The turnips should be at least about 5 cm across, preferably a little larger. Whether they're big enough depends on the weather. Sometimes they need a little longer, so leave them to grow.
If a few are already a good size but the others are still small, pull out the largest turnips and leave the rest to grow on.
How can you use turnips?
Enjoy the peppery leaves in stamppot, a Dutch dish of mashed potatoes and vegetables, raw in salads or cooked like spinach. They're delicious in stir-fries too.
Raw turnips have quite a peppery bite, a little like radishes, making them lovely in salads. When cooked, they're soft, tender and slightly sweet. You can stir-fry them too.
They go well with other vegetables, such as mangetout, peas and courgettes.
The final level
So, what's stopping you from sowing and growing your own turnips?
Good luck!
