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 in this guide, 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.
Method: Direct sow: Direct-sow outside. Rutabaga doesn't transplant well, or doesn't need the extra time indoors.
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.
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)
- 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)
Cited from the source shown next to each variety. We haven't grown these ourselves yet, so treat this as a research-backed starting point, not a personal endorsement.
Where to buy rutabaga seeds
As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases. Some links on this page also go to other retailers we may earn a commission from as an affiliate, at no extra cost to you. We only recommend products with a genuine consensus of positive, independent reviews. See the sources cited on each item.
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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