As soon as the leaves are big
enough to get a meal I start the harvest. Lots of plants means I'll start taking the leaves at 2-3". From seed to first harvest is maybe 3 weeks.
I take the outer leaves, they'll be bigger and fill the bowl/bucket/basket faster. The center leaves will keep growing, as will the root. I don't take all the leaves. Gotta let the plant keep growing. I've left them looking like a molting hen. I can get another harvest in a couple weeks from the same plants. About 3 dozen plants will give me a meal every week for 3 months. I plant them at 4" intervals. 4 square feet, 2'x2', produces all I can stand.
Turnips are biennial. They won't bolt the first year. The leaves never get bitter. Larger leaves will see some strings in the stem. Chop them a few times before cooking and it's not a problem.
Summer heat will slow down production. The greens grow faster in the sun and can get long. This gives you lots of stem for the amount of leaves. I cut them short in the kitchen and put em in the
compost bucket.
Winter slows growth. By the time the plants have slowed down the roots have grown to substantial size. 3 or 4 roots is a heaping bowl.
Turnip is a shallow root crop and as it grows will break up the surface of the soil.
Cooking Roots
I cut of the crown end deep to clean it up. This crown area is thin but can have a tougher texture. I cut off the root to be flush with the ball. Any blemishes can be pared away. The ball gets washed. There is nothing to peel so give em a good scrub.
They can be baked whole but tend to dry out which makes them tough to chew. Try wrapping some bacon around them.
Soup calls for dicing or slicing, toss into the pot for 30-45 minutes depending on size and how soft you like.
Boil as you would mashed potato. Smush, serve as mashed potato. Leave them unmashed and they are just as good. Serve with butter, gravy, sour cream, perhaps a touch of horseradish.
Left unmashed the leftovers do much justice to a pan of red flannel hash, or fry them up with some bacon grease.
If I'm making a couple pounds of mashed potato, I don't mind tossing in a half pound of turnip right in with the potatoes. I'll put the beater to them to whip smooth. If I can't find the beaters I have a hand masher that does the job fine. If they come out a little bit lumpy, they are even better. The flavor gives the potatoes just a little bite.
Add to a pot roast 20 minutes after you add the potatoes and carrots.
Gotta have turnip for a Yankee boiled dinner: ham, potato, carrot, onion, cabbage, parsnip and turnip. Any root crop will do.
Makes a good cream soup or bisque.
My grandmother would make a sandwich with leftover greens. The directions are explicit:
Take some bread that is stale and dry, the kind that even the
chickens would turn their beaks up at. Scrape some cool butter across so the bread rolls up and falls apart. Cover with leftover, cold, well drained turnip greens from the night before, better yet, from 2 nights before. Wrap in aluminum foil that has been used a minimum of 14 times. Serve out in the field on a cold, soggy day.
What I'd give for one of those right now!