I love turnips: cooked and mashed with butter and lots of pepper, absolutely delicious!
YORKTON – We’ll start off our gardening chat with a reminder about the Saskatchewan Horticultural Association bus tour for 2024.
This always used to be a favorite event for Saskatchewan gardeners, and now it’s back! Visit the SHA website at skhorticultural.com to read about the tour, July 26 – 28, a much-loved garden adventure that will be exploring the north-east part of the province.
The website says “This fun and exciting bus tour will take you on a journey through some of the most beautiful gardens and landscapes in Northeastern Saskatchewan. You will have the opportunity to explore private gardens, Star City Hutterite Colony, a Haskap berry farm and a Honey bee farm, all while learning from expert horticulturists and gardeners. We will explore the garden communities of Star City, Tisdale, Ridgedale, Carrot River, Nipawin and White Fox.” Non-members are also welcome on this tour.
But as with all good things, book early so you don’t miss out! I’d suggest that if you’re thinking of going, you inquire asap. The website lists this name and number, so I’m passing it on to you : Michelle at 306 620 7351.
Another reminder: the next meeting of the Hort Society is on Wednesday, April 17 at 7:00 PM at the Yorkton Public Library. The topic will be “Gardening Above Ground: Raised Beds and Containers”. Everyone is welcome. Visit the hort website at www.yorktonhort.ca for details.
As I sit here with you, I’ve got one of our seed catalogues in front of me, so let’s do a ‘seed-catalogue-dive’ and pick our topic of the day. I’m thumbing through the veggies, closing my eyes and selecting at random…turnips!
I love turnips: cooked and mashed with butter and lots of pepper, absolutely delicious! First, our gardening notes: turnips can be sown directly in the garden early in the spring. They would like a spot with full sun and well-drained soil. We shouldn’t plant them too deeply, about half an inch deep is fine. Remember that since turnips are part of the brassica family, they are susceptible to things like flea beetles, root maggots, and root splits.
Now, the big question: what is the difference between a turnip and a rutabaga? It seems that people often interchange the names, but my homework tells me that there is a difference. Even the seed catalogue lists them as “summer tunip” and “swede tunip”.
As a word, “turnip” comes from “neep” from the Latin “napus”. The word “turnip’ refers to the smaller white root vegetable, or ‘summer turnip”. “Rutabaga” coms from Swedish ‘rotabagge’ meaning “rootbag.” Rutabga is another name for a ‘swede’, the large yellow root vegetable.
Confused yet? Wait, there’s more! There are also other veggies in this discussion: jicama, called Mexican turnip, and daikon, which is a large white radish.
In Scotland, the swede is also called a yellow turnip, and that is what is served as ‘neeps’ in a restaurant. Years ago when we were in Scotland, we enjoyed ‘neeps and tatties’ (turnips and potatoes) but had no idea that there was such a story behind the vegetable!
In Canada, we often refer to turnips as either white or yellow. The white turnips grow more quickly than the yellow, but the yellow turnips, when harvested, will keep longer into the fall and winter. Either way, they are a delicious veggie that we can grow in our gardens! Add it to your “to plant this year” list!
Thank you to our friends at YTW for their great work. Gardeners, have a great week, and enjoy the fun of looking at seed catalogues!
