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.
What to expect
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.
Common problems
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.
Where this fits in your garden
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 →
Spacing: 9 per square foot (square-foot-gardening spacing).
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)
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
Some links on this page go to retailers we may eventually 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 turnip" videos → (a live search, not a hand-picked video — results vary and aren't vetted by us)