How to Grow Turnips and Rutabaga in Canada

Why Grow Turnips and Rutabaga in Canada?

Turnips and rutabaga are two of the most cold-hardy vegetables you can grow in a Canadian garden. Both thrive in cool, short growing seasons, tolerate frost, and deliver nutritious roots and edible greens from a single planting. Rutabaga — known in many parts of Canada simply as "turnip" — is especially popular in Atlantic Canada and Quebec, where it's a staple of Sunday roasts and winter soups.

Though often grouped together, turnips and rutabaga are distinct crops:

Both are members of the brassica family and prefer the same cool growing conditions.

When to Plant Turnips and Rutabaga by Zone

Both are cool-season vegetables. Plant in spring for early summer harvest, or in midsummer for a fall harvest — often sweeter after frost.

Spring Planting

Fall Planting (Most Common for Rutabaga)

Count backwards from your first fall frost date. Sow turnips 6–8 weeks before first frost; sow rutabaga 90–100 days before first frost.

Use the frost date calculator at mygardenplanner.ca to find your exact first fall frost date and calculate your sowing window.

Example: In Zone 5b (first frost ~October 1), count back 100 days — target rutabaga sow date is late June.

Soil and Site Requirements

Both crops prefer:

• Full sun (6+ hours/day)
• Loose, well-drained soil — heavy clay causes misshapen roots
• pH 6.0–7.0
• Consistent moisture — dry spells produce woody, bitter roots

Work 5–7 cm of compost into the top 20 cm before sowing. Avoid fresh manure or excess nitrogen, which encourages leafy tops at the expense of root development.

Sowing Seeds

Direct-seed both crops — do not transplant, as disturbing the taproot causes forking.

• Seed depth: 1 cm (½ inch)
• Spacing: Thin to 10–15 cm for turnips, 20 cm for rutabaga
• Row spacing: 30 cm (12 inches)
• Germination: 5–10 days at 10°C–30°C soil temperature

Turnips germinate quickly and reliably. Rutabaga is slightly slower. Keep the seedbed moist until germination is complete.

Care Through the Season

Thinning: Critical for good root development. Overcrowded roots stay small and misshapen. Thin once seedlings reach 5 cm tall. The thinnings make excellent salad greens.

Watering: 2.5 cm (1 inch) per week. Inconsistent moisture causes cracked or split roots.

Fertilizing: A light side-dressing of balanced fertilizer (10-10-10) at 3–4 weeks after germination is sufficient. Avoid over-fertilizing.

Brassica rotation: Do not plant turnips or rutabaga where you grew any brassica — kale, cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower — in the previous two years. Rotate the crop to prevent clubroot, a serious soilborne disease that builds up in Canadian gardens over time.

Harvesting

Turnips

• Harvest when roots are 5–8 cm (2–3 inches) in diameter
• Baby turnips (3–4 cm) are tender and mild — excellent raw or quickly sautéed
• Turnips left too long become fibrous and strong-flavoured
• Greens can be harvested anytime — cook like spinach or mustard greens

Rutabaga

• Harvest after the first hard frost (below -3°C) for the sweetest flavour
• Roots should be 10–15 cm (4–6 inches) in diameter at harvest
• Wax roots with food-grade paraffin before long-term storage
• Store at 0°C–2°C; keeps 4–6 months in a root cellar or cold room

Common Problems

Clubroot: Purple, stunted tops; misshapen swollen roots. A soilborne disease with no cure — prevent with a 3-year brassica rotation and lime the soil to pH 7.0 or above in affected beds.

Root maggots: Tunnels in roots caused by cabbage root fly larvae. Use floating row covers at planting to exclude adult flies. Common across Canada, especially in cool wet springs.

Flea beetles: Small round holes in young seedlings. Worst in spring; plants usually outgrow the damage. Row covers provide effective protection.

Plan Your Root Garden at MyGardenPlanner.ca

Turnips and rutabaga are excellent candidates for succession planting — sow every 3–4 weeks from April through July for a continuous harvest. Use the free planting date calculator at mygardenplanner.ca to set your sowing schedule, and the season planner to map your full root vegetable rotation alongside carrots, parsnips, beets, and celeriac.