Growing Rutabaga, also Swedes

Brassica napus var.napobrassica : Brassicaceae / the mustard or cabbage family

Jan F M A M J J A S O N Dec
    S S                
        T T     T      
        P P   P        

(Best months for growing Rutabaga in Canada - Zone 6a Temperate Warm Summer regions)

  • S = Plant undercover in seed trays
  • T = Plant out (transplant) seedlings
  • P = Sow seed
  • Easy to grow. Sow in garden. Sow seed at a depth approximately three times the diameter of the seed. Best planted at soil temperatures between 7°C and 25°C. (Show °F/in)
  • Space plants: 10 - 20 cm apart
  • Harvest in 10-14 weeks.
  • Compatible with (can grow beside): Peas, Beans, Chives
  • Avoid growing close to: Potatoes
  • Rutabaga harvest (commons.wikimedia.org - Seedambassadors - CC BY-SA 3.0)

Related to turnips. Round root vegetable with creamy white flesh and reddish purple leaves.

They take about 3 to 4 months to grow.

Grow where beans or peas have been grown the year before.

Culinary hints - cooking and eating Rutabaga

Use when about the size of a tennis ball.
The leaves can be cooked like cabbage when young.

Your comments and tips

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In short, it’d either not work at all, or it would. The problem is the temperatures/humidity you describe would make germination non-existent, or incredibly rapid. We have similar conditions at the end of summer when we have to sow our swedes. You’d have to shade them from the sun/light, and water them very carefully. What happens in that kind of heat is they sprout within two or three days, and then if they get direct sunlight, they wilt and die. The little seedlings cant take the heat, there’s not enough moisture in the top layer of soil for the tiny roots, and often the bulbs wont form even if they survive. But having said that, there is more to growing than the weather. Location is also a big factor. In Europe they say it takes up to 6months to harvest, and they grow some whoppers. I grow mine as singles in 3L containers and start harvesting from 3 to 4 months.

- Lee

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