…and the bees love it too.
Want to grow spinach? We have been wildly unsuccessful in growing it, but guess what…steamed turnip greens taste just like spinach. It turns out they are very easy to grow and are good for you too. This was supposed to be a mixture of several cover crop seeds, Fava beans, Winter Rye, and Hairy Vetch included. It looks like the turnips took over. Uh, I might have broadcast them a little thick. My “solar-roller water pump panel” is positioned for the afternoon sun. Gotta keep the flow going. 🙂
Turnip flowers in January provide nourishment for bees in the critical winter months.
October 8…This bed was planted August 1. Turnips grow fast. Plant them thick, then you can harvest the thinnings by steaming the greens. Leave a few to go to flowers in winter.
We’ve been getting three crops a year in our raised beds. This was lettuce last winter, then kale, now turnips. In between we bury crab shell when we can get it. This being October, that resource will soon be gone.
Oct. 10…My sweetheart made a delicious turnip soup for dinner this evening. These turnips were planted in early August. They grow fast!!!
Oct. 8…just in case we haven’t planted enough turnips, here is another bed started…complete with drip water grid.
Oct. 15…Turnips are up already. The shade cloth is to protect the little darlings from the hurricane force winds and 12-18 inches (300-450mm) of rain that was forecast…didn’t happen, at least, not yet.
Turnip soup recipe
Chop an onion, saute in olive oil, add 4 to 5 cups of peeled chopped turnips, two garlic cloves (peeled and cut in half), add two teaspoons of smoked paprika, and teaspoon of thyme leaves. Cook until lightly brown, add three cups of vegetable or chicken broth, salt to taste. Bring to boil and simmer until veggies are cooked. Blend in blender, return to pan, add a cup of milk, or milk alternative.
Adventures in Natural Beekeeping 
I’ve never grown turnips. I think I must have missed the boat for planting them now but they look like a great winter nectar source and the soup sounds good. Amelia
Well, I never knew turnips would be used as a cover crop, but I’ve tried clover which takes, like forever to grow and blossom, hairy vetch last year didn’t get very far, and buckwheat which grows fast, but in my case attracts more flies than bees. We’ve had at least one bed of turnips going into the winter for two years now with some success. When my wife cooked up some turnip greens, I realized growing this veggie was a win, win, win. I bet your climate in France could work. Want some seeds? 😀
Thanks for the offer but I think I will try some local varieties. Vegetables can be very fussy and particular. I am having good results with the Phacelia as a cover but you can’t eat it! Amelia
Definitely on my list for next year, good fodder for the animals as well.
Chicken stock! Don’t tell me you are no longer vegetarian?
Haha. Very observant.😀 I guess we are flexaterian. We started eating chicken a couple of months ago. Here is the reasoning. We read that “older people need more protein.” Well, we fit in that category. We eat beans and rice (a complete protein), tofu, tempeh, and fish. The trouble with fish is that the oceans are getting depleted. Eat farmed fish?? Many unhealthy feeding issues there. Also, the bigger fish have mercury levels. There’s a web site that advises how much of each type of fish you can consume without overindulging in mercury. With only one or two servings of fish of year we’ve reached the mercury limit. That leaves fish out of the menu. Since we don’t eat cheese for other reasons, we are limited in our diet. Hence the chicken solution. We eat chicken maybe twice a week now, not barbecued or fried, but just baked or made into soup. Antibiotic-free range chicken.