Ohiofarmgirl's Adventures in The Good Land is largely a fish out of water tale about how I eventually found my footing on a small farm in an Amish town. We are a mostly organic, somewhat self sufficient, sustainable farm in Ohio. There's action and adventure and I'll always tell you the truth about farming.


Tuesday, October 27, 2015

This is why you thin your turnips.

I always hate thinning the garden. It feels so wasteful to go thru and hoe out or pick the "extra" sprouts so that each plant has the proper spacing.  It doesn't matter if it's tomatoes, onions, or turnips I just don't like to thin them.

Then this happens.

This is why you thin your turnips. 
Note: sorry for the potato quality pix... it was dark when I brought them in.

Rats. Last nite I went up to the garden get some turnips to add to my roasted veggies. I was dying for roasted veg the way One Viking Girl makes..and eats with mayo. You heard me - with mayo. How weird, right? Nope. It's heavenly. And I have several big patches of turnips so I figured they'd be nice and plump..

But why have all those turnips? Because they are terrific fodder for the pigs, because they are an amazing cover crop, and because they grow in cold weather. So I planted a lot of them in the spent gardens from the summer. There are tons of them.

I thinned some of them but then I made up all kinds of excuses not to finish... too busy, I wanted more greens, got distracted.... I should have finished. 

You can see that the big turnip - which was in the thinned row - got much bigger even tho they were planted at the same time. Much much much bigger. So I need to get out there and do more thinning so I'll have bigger turnips.

We are getting the rain from Hurricane Patricia later on today so if I hurry I can get the rest of the tunips thinned and ready to grow grow grow! 

And it's finally light out enough to see. This whole "getting light at 8am" thing is really wearing me down. Good thing my Chief of Staff, Little Mo, makes sure I get up at our normal time. Nothing like sitting in the dark for 2 hours.... *sighs dramatically*

Happy Tuesday everyone! Did you thin your turnips?


6 comments:

Onevikinggirl said...

Yeah, roasted turnips and mayo! This is how good lives are built!

Linda said...

I live in Southern Ohio in Adams County. I wonder if turnips would work here as a late crop? I am not sure how far up north you are from me but when did you plant your turnips?
Do they keep going through the freeze if you leave them in the ground? I am really interested in maybe doing those next year.

My garden this year did not do well. I ended up buying some tomatoes so I could can sauce and green beans so I could have them too. I was grateful to find someone who had extra to sell.

Have a great day.

Linda

Ohiofarmgirl said...

THANK YOU, OneVG!!!! yes this is how good lives are built!
ps Nicholas sends kisses

TwoBlueJays said...

Thinning anything feels wrong. So we mostly suffer with weirdly-joined small root vegs. I just thinned carrots only because it was a small bed and I could sit down. LOL

Linda said...

I tossed out a bunch of seeds in a 4x4 box. I only wanted tender turnips to eat in salad. Out of curiosity, I pulled up the few turnips that made it. They were smaller than my little finger. I washed them and put them in exes salad the day he came around to help me. He said they were delicious.

Some people thin the turnips but do not toss them aside. They eat the tiny things. So, they are not wasted after all.

Turnips will never pass through my lips, but the greens are good in salad or cooked.

Ohiofarmgirl said...

hi Linda! and yep. but you've probably missed it for this year. next year tho you can start planting them in late summer. they will take a frost and a freeze for a short time. some folks think they are better after a frost. the big draw, tho, is that they are good fodder. some folks will take them up and feed them over winter. here is a pretty good overview:
http://plantcovercrops.com/cover-crop-turnips-a-good-choice-over-radishes/
:-)

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