Why The Turnip Doesn't Grow

2024 Author: Sebastian Paterson | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 13:47

How to successfully grow the most popular vegetable in Ancient Russia - turnip

Forty centuries ago, for the first time, our distant ancestor tasted turnips. This event probably happened on the Atlantic coast. And practically from that moment on, for many peoples, turnip has become the main food product for many centuries.

In ancient times, turnips were sacrificed to the god Apollo, bringing them to temples on pewter dishes. True, the same Greeks valued beets higher and brought them to the temple on silver dishes. The ancient Persians considered turnips to be the food of slaves, and the Egyptians fed them to the builders of the pyramids. It was widely used in ancient Rome, moreover, the Romans succeeded in growing huge turnips and prepared numerous dishes from them. The ancient love for turnips was so great that even Gaius Pliny Secundus (better known to his enlightened descendants as Pliny the Elder) gave it a significant place in his famous "Natural History". After cereals and legumes, he believed, "… there is no plant that would be more useful than turnip." The first vegetable was considered a turnip in the distant Middle Ages.

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In Russia, it has also been cultivated since time immemorial. And now it is listed with us almost in the very last place - it has almost completely ceased to be grown. And, actually, in vain. Turnip is quite tasty both fresh and baked or stewed. Turnip roots are also fried and stuffed. In addition, one cannot, of course, discount its extraordinary usefulness for the body.

In terms of vitamin C content, turnips are six times higher than onions. It accumulates vitamins B ₁, B ₂ and B ₅ (so useful for our nervous system inflated by constant stress), and there are even more sugars than in sweet apples. I will not even mention the bactericidal properties of turnips, they are known to everyone and everyone. And think, what delicacy is a fresh turnip for your children and grandchildren?

The main reasons for low turnip yields

The people say: “Easier than a steamed turnip.” So why, after all, turnips are practically not grown here? Gardeners to whom you ask this question usually answer like this: "… does not want to grow and does not grow." In the Yaroslavl region, where I come from, turnips were grown in every vegetable garden, and there were no problems with this. But in the Urals, where I live now, turnips are not grown at all, and, most likely, they have never been grown before, because they "do not grow".

The reason for this sad state of affairs lies in the soil. The soils in the Urals are peaty or soddy-podzolic. Turnip does not really grow on such soils. It will take significant land cultivation before you can truly boast a delicious and beautiful turnip. Firstly, the soil should be more or less fertile, and secondly, and this is the most important condition, - neutral, since turnip is possible only on light sandy soils with a neutral reaction. On all other soils, she immediately becomes ill with keel. In this case, one important factor should be noted - even if the turnip got sick after the formation of a normal root crop, its taste will immediately deteriorate sharply. It will become woody and tasteless.

To achieve high-quality vegetables, we will have to remember the experience of our distant ancestors. In fire farming, turnip was the first crop after the development of arable land. In other words, it was planted in soil mixed with a huge amount of ash. I plant turnips in almost exactly the same way, adding up to half a bucket of ash for every square meter of area. Do not spare ash when planting turnips: firstly, it is the ash that will make the turnip really tasty, and secondly, the turnip bed is not so big to save on it.

In addition, there is a second reason why the turnip “does not want to grow”. The whole hordes of young turnip seedlings are attacked by insatiable cruciferous fleas. That is why turnips are always sown in the spring as early as possible. It turns out that in late spring fleas are very rampant and rapidly destroy young shoots of plants. The more hardened plants of the early sowing period still survive somehow.

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All kinds of folk remedies for cruciferous flea beetles help very little. Usually, to protect against pests, it is recommended to sprinkle ash, tobacco or even just road dust directly on the shoots every day in the early morning. All this, of course, has an effect, but very weak. On the one hand, in order to carry out such an execution every single day, you need to constantly be on the site for this. And sometimes, oddly enough, you have to go to work. Therefore, having arrived at the cottage next weekend, turnips can simply not be found in the garden. On the other hand, you must agree that this is a rather troublesome and not very effective exercise. I save myself from the harmful flea by covering the turnip immediately after planting with a covering material, and remove it only during weeding and thinning. And I do such work only during the day, when the flea is resting.

Turnip farming rules

You can formulate a list of fairly simple instructions, following which you will always stay with the turnip harvest. I will try to list them briefly.

1. Turnip is a very cold-resistant culture. Its seedlings tolerate frosts down to -1 ° С, and rather large plants up to -4 ° С. Therefore, it is necessary to plant it, as they said before, "in the mud." In other words, it should be the first crop you sow in spring. On the one hand, this will give an earlier harvest. On the other hand, the earliest and most crucial period of plant development will take place before the appearance of the cruciferous flea (although when using a covering material, you are not afraid of it).

2. The optimum temperature for growing turnips is 15 … 18 ° C. At a higher temperature, the roots become very coarse, losing their taste. This is another plus in favor of early planting.

3. Turnip is an extremely light-loving culture, so take a sunny area for it.

4. The soil for the turnip beds, of course, must be prepared in the fall. It is assumed that it is fertile enough. If not, add humus and compound fertilizers in the spring. Ashes must be added in the spring immediately before sowing seeds. In no case should manure be introduced, even partially rotted. In this case, the turnip will grow ugly and have a very mediocre taste.

5. After planting, the garden bed should be immediately carefully covered with any covering material.

6. Turnip doesn't like to be thirsty. With a lack of moisture, roots become coarse, acquire bitterness and an unpleasant odor. True, turnip does not accept waterlogging either.

7. Weeding and thinning of plants should be carried out as early as possible. The first thinning should be done in the phase of two or three leaves. The second is in 15-20 days. At the same time, not the slightest thickening of the plants should be allowed, since in this case you will not get a harvest. I leave the plants at a distance of 15 cm, or even 20 cm from each other.

8. When the first 3-4 true leaves appear, I once again feed the plants with ash, scattering it directly over the leaves and, additionally, with ordinary table salt. Salt and ash significantly improve the taste of the fruit.

9. A week later I feed the plants with Magbor fertilizer (1 tablespoon per bucket of water), pouring the solution directly from the watering can. Boron and magnesium will make the turnip sweeter. To a large extent, the sugar content of fruits can increase when spraying with humic preparations (1-2 times per season). The quality of fruits is also improved when plants are treated with growth stimulants, such as Epin, Silk, etc. It is also a good idea to feed the plants with regular table salt once a season. But the thickened planting of plants will have a very negative effect on the taste of root crops, as well as overdrying the soil, as well as the introduction of manure (even half-rotted) during the preparation of the ridge, but humus on the turnip garden is simply necessary.

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