Growing Rutabaga: A Complete Profile
By Growing Home Greens Team · July 24, 2026
Rutabaga is a cross between cabbage and turnip, grown for its dense, sweet-fleshed root. Unlike most vegetables, it isn’t planted off the spring last-frost date at all. It’s sown in summer, timed backward from the fall harvest you want.
Sowing on a fall timetable
Direct-sow seed about 90 days before your target harvest date, 3/8 inch deep, thinning seedlings to 6 inches apart. The crop spends the heat of summer building leaves, then sizes up its root as days cool into fall. Rutabaga tolerates hard cold. Leaving it in the ground through a couple of light frosts is a feature, not a risk, since the cold converts starches to sugars and noticeably improves flavor.
Planted too early, or too crowded
Rutabaga planted too early (spring, off the last-frost date like a turnip) tends to bolt or turn woody in summer heat before it’s had a chance to size up, the whole point of the crop is that it matures into cool weather, not away from it. If roots come up small, the most common cause is overcrowding; thin aggressively.
A heavy feeder that stores through winter
Rutabaga is a heavy feeder related to cabbage and other brassicas, so avoid following it with another brassica in the same spot the next season. It stores well through winter in a root cellar or a cold, humid spot, alongside other storage crops like parsnip and beet.
Sources: Growing Rutabagas from Seed, Johnny’s Selected Seeds; Laurentian Rutabaga Seed, Johnny’s Selected Seeds.
Companion planting guide for Rutabaga · Find your planting dates
Typically viable in USDA zones 2-9. Not sure your zone? Look it up by ZIP code.
Mature height: 1-1.5 ft
Method: Direct sow: Direct-sow outside. It doesn't transplant well, or doesn't need the extra time indoors.
When to plant rutabaga, by zone
Every zone rutabaga grows in. Pick your zone in the header and it will be highlighted here. Each zone links to its full page.
| Zone | Start indoors | Sow or plant out | Harvest |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2a & 2b | Not usually | Jul 22–Jul 29 | Oct 20–Oct 27 |
| 3a & 3b | Not usually | Aug 1–Aug 8 | Oct 30–Nov 6 |
| 4a & 4b | Not usually | Jul 17–Jul 24 | Oct 15–Oct 22 |
| 5a & 5b | Not usually | Jul 12–Jul 19 | Oct 10–Oct 17 |
| 6a & 6b | Not usually | Jun 27–Jul 4 | Sep 25–Oct 2 |
| 7a & 7b | Not usually | Jun 12–Jun 19 | Sep 10–Sep 17 |
| 8a & 8b | Not usually | May 27–Jun 3 | Aug 25–Sep 1 |
| 9a & 9b | Not usually | Apr 19–Apr 26 | Jul 18–Jul 25 |
Harvest dates are about 90 days after the sow or plant-out date.
Zone 2 sows before zone 3 here, which looks wrong and is not. USDA zones rank winter cold, not season length, and zone 2 is mostly interior Alaska, where hard winters come with warm summers. More on what a zone measures.
See exact start-indoors, direct-sow, and harvest dates for your zone →
How many Rutabaga plants fit per square foot?
Spacing: 4 per square foot (square-foot-gardening spacing). Mature height: 1-1.5 ft.
Good companions for rutabaga
- Radish: Radish (including the daikon form) is a documented trap crop for flea beetles, which prefer its mustard oils over other brassicas and can be sacrificed or pulled once infested: the same research cited on the radish page.
Full companion guide, including what to keep away from rutabaga →
Varieties worth considering
- Laurentian (Brassica napus var. napobrassica): The standard rutabaga, and for good reason: it's been the default North American variety since before 1920, and Johnny's Selected Seeds still sells it as the mild, sweet-flavored, uniform round root gardeners expect when they picture a rutabaga. There's little reason to hunt for something fancier on a first planting. (source) Buy seeds: True Leaf Market
- Helenor: A round, light-orange-fleshed type Johnny's says colors up earlier in root development than Laurentian, so you can gauge progress sooner, and stores well for up to six months at proper conditions. A reasonable second pick if Laurentian seed isn't available. (source) Buy seeds: High Mowing Organic Seeds
Why each variety is listed comes from the source shown next to it. We haven't grown these ourselves yet, so treat this as a research-backed starting point, not a personal endorsement. The buy links are separate from those sources: they go to seed suppliers that sell that exact variety, and we may earn a commission on some of them.
Where to buy rutabaga seeds
Botanical Interests · True Leaf Market · Burpee (each supplier's rutabaga seeds)
The varieties we recommend above each have their own buy links, for the suppliers that sell that exact variety.
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See it growing
Search YouTube for "growing rutabaga" videos → (a live search, not a hand-picked video; results vary and aren't vetted by us)
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Growing Rutabaga: A cold-hardy root crop planted in summer for a fall and winter harvest, sweetening with every frost it survives.
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