Cut the top off of a turnip....

Sat Oct 09, 2010 3:33 am

.....and now it is growing leaves. I put it in a pot with soil and it's growing nicely.

When can I put it in the garden? Any tips on how to plant it would be appreciated.

Sat Oct 09, 2010 12:17 pm

You can do the same thing with a carrot. Also with an onion root.

Just plant it out when you would ordinarily plant turnups. However, I can't guarantee you that it will produce another turn up since I've never actually done it. I've heard that if you do it with the carrot, you won't get very good roots.

Give it a go and see how it goes

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Sat Oct 09, 2010 12:41 pm

If they become established, they'll be 2nd year plants. As these root vegs are biennial, they will grow flowerstalks and, if you let them, go to seed. The flowers are great beneficial insect attractants, and you can collect the seeds to grow if you would like to experiment. If the original vegs were hybrid varieties, the resulting offspring will be unpredictable.

Your turniphead can be planted out when it has a fairly strong root system. the tops can grow leaves without roots, using the piece of the veg as nutrient and moisture source, so viability can be misleading. Don't plant it out too early. :wink:

Sun Oct 10, 2010 1:20 pm

applestar wrote:If they become established, they'll be 2nd year plants. As these root vegs are biennial, they will grow flowerstalks and, if you let them, go to seed. The flowers are great beneficial insect attractants, and you can collect the seeds to grow if you would like to experiment. If the original vegs were hybrid varieties, the resulting offspring will be unpredictable.

Your turniphead can be planted out when it has a fairly strong root system. the tops can grow leaves without roots, using the piece of the veg as nutrient and moisture source, so viability can be misleading. Don't plant it out too early.

Thanks for going into detail for us, Apps. What would we do without you?

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I completely forgot about the second-year factor. With these plants being biennials, like Apps said, they'd go to seed. Still worth a try, though; at least you'd get some free seeds.