Best Turnip Varieties for Scotland

Turnips grow best in cool conditions and are ready in as little as six weeks, so they suit Scotland. The five recommended varieties are all small roots, most of them quick, and the choice is between speed, boltingA plant switching early into flowering and seed production, usually triggered by stress, after which leaves, roots or bulbs turn bitter or unusable. Full page → resistance and colour.

What Scotland means for the choice

Turnips like cool weather and fertile, moisture-retentive soil, and sown in small batches every few weeks from spring to late summer they crop without a glut. Dry spells make them bolt, which stops the root swelling, so keep them watered. The roots aren't completely hardy, so lift late sowings before the weather turns really frosty, though in mild regions they can stay in the ground under clochesA small, portable clear cover placed over an individual plant or short row to trap warmth and keep off wind, rain and pests. Full definition →. Turnips are brassicasThe cabbage family: cabbage, kale, broccoli, cauliflower, Brussels sprouts, kohlrabi, swede, turnip and more, sharing the same pests, diseases and rotation rules. Full definition →, and clubroot is worse on acid ground, which describes much of Scotland. Atlantic prefers soil that isn't too acidic. One more thing to watch for: in some parts of the UK swedes are called turnips, so check the Latin name on the packet. The turnip growing guide covers sowing, spacing and storage.

Oasis, Tokyo Cross and Temari Red hold the RHS Award of Garden Merit (AGMThe RHS's Award of Garden Merit: a UK-wide trials award for reliable performance, not a Scotland-specific recommendation. Full definition →). Atlantic and Sweetbell don't.

Oasis

Oasis is a small, uniform turnip with a pure ivory root that can be pulled at any size between late summer and autumn. The flavour is sweet and juicy, like melon, and it's good raw in salads. It's slow to bolt and shows good disease resistance. Sow it every four weeks from April to July for a steady supply.

Tokyo Cross and Temari Red

Tokyo Cross is an old and popular variety, a very quick-maturing, smooth, pure white globe with good flavour, ready 35 to 60 days after sowing. It's also fine in a container. Temari Red is a Japanese salad turnip with small, rounded, scarlet roots and white flesh with a red blush. It's ready from June to September or October to November depending on when you sow, and has some resistance to club root.

Atlantic and Sweetbell

Atlantic matures early, making round roots with a slight purple crown and a white base, and is ideal as baby turnips. Sow it under cloches in February, or in modulesA tray divided into small individual cells, each sown with its own seed or seedling, so each plant grows undisturbed roots until it's ready to plant out. Full definition → indoors and plant out in spring. It also suits containers. Sweetbell is a small, neat salad turnip, sweet and crisp, with pink-purple skin.

Which one for your situation

• Most gardens, or a bolting problem: Oasis.
• The quickest crop: Tokyo Cross.
• Colour on the plate, or a plot with club root worries: Temari Red.
• The earliest sowing, under cloches: Atlantic.
• Sweet, crisp roots near the coast: Sweetbell.

Pick turnips young: if they grow larger than a tennis ball they can turn woody and bitter. Seedlings need protecting from slugs, flea beetle and cabbage root fly.

Common questions

Sources