Plant · P-186

Turnip

Brassica rapa

Turnip does double duty as a fast, cool-season vegetable and a cold-weather forage crop: the roots and leafy tops both mature in as little as 30 to 60 days, quick enough to fill a gap other crops leave empty. The greens taste like a slightly hot cabbage and the roots like a mild radish, and both the greens and the whole plant make good winter grazing right when warm-season pasture goes dormant. The taproot also drills down through compacted soil, and leaving it in the ground rather than harvesting keeps the minerals it pulls up in place. It reseeds readily if allowed to flower - useful if volunteers are wanted next season, a mowing chore before seed set if they aren't.