萝卜对任何花园都很好，你可以使用伴生种植来帮助它们生长得更好。永续栽培研究所将伴生种植描述为“一种利用自然界中发现的协同特性的园艺方法:植物之间的合作以实现最佳的健康和生存能力。”
Companion planting brings long-term soil stability, harmony, color, and diversity to the homestead garden. Companion plants offer shade and shelter, repel crop-destroying insect pests, and enhance garden soil with essential nutrients.
Additionally, companion plants improve the flavor of nearby vegetables, attract beneficial pollinators, reduce the need for chemical-based herbicides and pesticides, and helps retain soil moisture.
Turnips Are Terrific Companions
Turnips are natural aphid repellents, protecting a wide variety of garden crops that are vulnerable to aphid invasion. Squash, tomatoes, celery, cabbage, broccoli, Brussels sprouts, beans, onions, garlic, lettuce, Swiss chard, spinach, cauliflower, and radishes all flourish when planted interspersed with turnips.
Turnips are “best buddies” with nitrogen-fixing peas. Plant turnips around the base of supports or trellises for sweet peas and pole beans.
To keep rabbits, deer, rodents, and insects from nibbling on tender turnip leaves, plant turnips near strongly scented herbs such as rosemary, basil, thyme, horehound, borage, hyssop, lavender, andall varieties of mint.
While mint is one of the most effective herbs to repel plant predators, it can be invasive and is best potted in containers to prevent it running rampant through the garden.
种植时，考虑在萝卜地周围种上野豌豆，它可以增强土壤的基本矿物质，并有助于控制常见的杂草。
Keep in mind companion planting is not an exact science, but rather one that is developed by trial and error. When establishing a rural or urban homestead garden, it is helpful to make note of how you group plants in the garden and which ones were most beneficial to each other. Do not plant turnips near other root crops such as parsnips, carrots, potatoes, or beets because they compete for the same nutrients in the soil.
All About Turnips
A cool-weather biennial cultivated as an annual, the turnip (Brassica rapa subsp. rapa) presents bold green leaves and a white-skinned, bulbous taproot or tuber. The entire turnip plant is edible. The turnip is a highly nutritious vegetable experiencing new popularity with homestead gardeners.
The plant is either grown as a root vegetable or for the flavorful and highly nutritious green leaves. Baby turnips, the turnips that have yet to develop their brightly colored tops, look somewhat like a large, white spring radish. Baby Bunch turnips are a variety that is harvested and enjoyed when they are only about the size of marbles.
There are many unique varieties of turnip presenting a diverse palette of color and taste. Favorite varieties include white, pink, and purple top turnips. Turnips are classified by shape: flat-bottomed, globular, or elongated. The most common type of turnip is the European type known for its firm white flesh and violet-tinged top. Did you know that there are more than fifty different varieties of turnips?
Turnip roots may be boiled, steamed, stewed, roasted, deep-fried, pickled, or served raw. Try turnips mashed half and half with new potatoes and a generous dollop of butter. Grated or diced, raw turnips will also add flavor and crunch to sandwiches and salads.
Turnip greens are served lightly steamed or chopped fresh in salads and salsa. The tender young greens add a sweet and spicy wallop of mouth-watering flavor.
Adding A Turnip Patch
Fast-growing turnips grow well in all parts of the United States. Turnips, because they are root vegetables, are not damaged by a diverse array of insects that attack above soil vegetation.
Purdue University Extension Service notes, “Turnip is a cool-weather crop and well adapted for the northern parts of the United States and Europe and for Great Britain and Canada. However, truck-growing areas of the South also produce turnip roots and greens in all seasons for human consumption.”
日益增长的指导
Turnips are humble tubers that are easy to grow. Turnips thrive in a full-sun location with well-drained, nutrient-rich soil. Experienced turnip growers suggest amending the soil before planting with generous amounts of well-aged herbivore (cow, horse, goat, sheep) manure. Work the soil well, incorporating manure while removing rocks and roots.
Turnip growing experts advise, “Avoid using fresh manure. Turnips are not very keen on this because it brings up the nitrogen content of the soil making the roots taste too strong.”
- Turnips do best in garden soil with a pH of 5.5 to 6.8. The pH level of garden soil can be checked with a pH test kitavailable onlineor from local garden centers. You can also take a soil sample to your county extension office for testing. Amend pH levels as recommended.
- Work the soil well before planting. The texture should be mealy, moist, and crumbly. An addition of organic, well-aged compost improves nutrient content and texture of the soil to ensure a bountiful harvest.
- 在春季最后霜冻前3-4周将萝卜种子直接种在花园中。一旦土壤温度上升到至少40华氏度，种子会在一周到十天内萌发。秋天种植的萝卜通常收获更甜，收获时间更长。要想收获秋收，至少要在初霜前两个月的仲夏播种。
Identifying Turnip Varieties
- Purple Top White Globe:带有紫色斑点的白色大萝卜。
- Tokyo Cross:all white hybrid turnip.
- Scarlet Queen:red-skinned turnip with firm, white flesh.
- Golden Globe (also known as Orange Jelly):甜的，明亮的橙色根和甜的绿色蔬菜。
- Amber Globe:果肉金黄，味道甘甜。
- Manchester Market:white turnip with yellow-green top, flourishes in United States Plant Hardiness Zones 2 through 6.
Planting Turnips
种植萝卜种子，每行间隔18到24英寸。用半英寸的土壤覆盖种子。当幼苗发育时，植株之间的间隔约为4英寸。当幼苗长到6英寸高时，在土壤表面覆盖一层厚厚的有机覆盖物，以保持水分和控制杂草。
For the sweetest and most flavorful turnips, keep the soil uniformly moist. Do not allow the soil to dry out. Turnips require at least one inch of water per week. Make sure the soil is well-drained. If the soil is soggy with standing water, turnip roots will rot. Be patient, turnips require 50 to 60 days to reach maturity.
Turnip Harvest And Storage
Harvest by digging or pulling. Fresh, tender leaves can be trimmed off the plant at any time. Prep, cook, and season turnip greens as you would fresh spinach.
Turnip tubers will store in the refrigerator crisper for up to six weeks, or you can store turnips as you would beets or potatoes in a root cellar for winter consumption.
TurnipRecipes.co.ukoffers a treasure chest of turnip recipes, including my favorite recipe for萝卜酒。
References
- Turnips,Purdue University Extension Service
- Companion Planting Information,Permaculture Research Institute
- Turnip Wine,Turnip Recipes
Thanks for the info about turnips!
实际上，我有一些(5B区)在冬天幸存下来，并已经产生了一些严重的绿色植物(4月初)。我放了一层叶子(大一点的，比如橡树叶)，让萝卜、羽衣甘蓝和羽衣甘蓝在冬天更温暖(恕我之意)。
我主要是希望能吃到芜菁的青菜，希望芜菁将来能结出种子，不断地重新生长!我希望羽衣甘蓝、羽衣甘蓝、大蒜、豆类和胡萝卜也是如此!
While I realize this might mean keeping the same crops in the same spaces, my hedge against not rotating crops is to really mix all the different plants up, so it’s more like a giant bed of kale, cabbage, garlic, collards, turnips, etc (maybe beans/peas – but not too near the garlic
芥菜、香葱(我相信)和柠檬香已经在自己播种了，所以我只是希望加入到混合中。
All the best!