Growing Turnips: A Complete Profile
By Growing Home Greens Team · July 18, 2026
Turnips are an underused fast crop: direct-sown, no transplanting fuss, and ready to eat in under two months. They’re an easy way to fill a bed gap between slower-growing neighbors.
Sowing it into cool soil
Direct-sow turnip seed a few weeks before your last frost; it germinates in cool soil and doesn’t need the head start that slower crops do. At 9 plants per square foot and 50 days to maturity, a single sowing gives you a quick, dense harvest, good reason to succession-sow every few weeks if you want a steady supply instead of one big flush.
Woody roots and flea beetles
Woody or overly sharp-tasting roots almost always mean they sat in the ground too long. Turnips are best pulled small and eaten young rather than left to bulk up. Like other fast brassicas, they’re prone to flea beetle damage on young leaves; row cover at seeding time heads this off before it starts.
A short-season gap filler
Turnips pair well with peas, which fix nitrogen that benefits neighboring root crops. See the full companion guide for turnip. Their short season and high density make them a good “gap filler” in the Garden Designer: sow them into a square that a spring crop just vacated, and they’ll be done before whatever comes next needs the space.
Companion planting guide for Turnip · 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. Turnip 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 Turnip plants fit per square foot?
Spacing: 9 per square foot (square-foot-gardening spacing). Mature height: 1-1.5 ft.
Soil & water: pH 6-6.5. well-drained. Amend with lime if soil pH falls below 6.
Varieties worth considering
- Hakurei: Cornell's Vegetable Varieties for Gardeners database describes it as a white, flat-to-round hybrid best harvested small (up to 2 inches) at around 38 days, noticeably faster and more tender than standard storage turnips. (source)
- Purple Top White Globe: The classic storage turnip, grown since the 1880s and still the one most people picture: purple-shouldered, white-fleshed, mild. Best pulled at 3-4 inches, but unlike Hakurei it holds decent quality even if you let it size up further, which makes it the more forgiving choice for a first attempt. (source)
- Scarlet Queen (F1): A salad turnip like Hakurei but with scarlet skin over white flesh, sold explicitly for eating raw and young; Johnny's rates young radish-sized roots ready in about 30 days. Pairs with Hakurei in a bunch for the color contrast if you're growing for a market stand or just want the bed to look good. (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 turnip seeds
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See it growing
Search YouTube for "growing turnip" videos → (a live search, not a hand-picked video; results vary and aren't vetted by us)
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Growing Turnip: One of the fastest root crops you can grow, direct-sown and ready in under two months, from quick-eating Hakurei to storage varieties.
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