Planting guide

When to plant turnip

Quick, mild roots for cool seasons; the tops are good greens too. In Melbourne it goes in Aug–Jun.

Start as: Seed, sown in place
Ready in: 5–10 wks
Spacing: 12 cm
Depth: 1 cm
Sun: Full sun (6+ hours)
Water: Regular
Effort: Easy
Frost-tender: No

When it goes in

● means turnip can go in that month, ○ means wait. Worked out from each town's climate zone and season, the way planting guides do it. Pick your town for the full list for that month.

Australian towns and cities
Town	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec
Sydney	●	●	●	●	●	●	○	●	●	●	●	●
Melbourne	●	●	●	●	●	●	○	●	●	●	●	●
Brisbane	●	●	●	●	●	●	○	●	●	●	●	●
Perth	●	●	●	●	●	●	○	●	●	●	●	●
Adelaide	●	●	●	●	●	●	○	●	●	●	●	●
Gold Coast	●	●	●	●	●	●	○	●	●	●	●	●
Newcastle	●	●	●	●	●	●	○	●	●	●	●	●
Sunshine Coast	●	●	●	●	●	●	○	●	●	●	●	●
Canberra	●	●	●	●	●	○	○	○	●	●	●	●
Central Coast	●	●	●	●	●	●	○	●	●	●	●	●
Geelong	●	●	●	●	●	●	○	●	●	●	●	●
Wollongong	●	●	●	●	●	●	○	●	●	●	●	●
Hobart	●	●	●	●	●	○	○	○	●	●	●	●
Townsville	●	●	●	●	●	●	○	●	●	●	●	●
Cairns	○	○	○	●	●	●	●	○	○	○	○	○
Toowoomba	●	●	●	●	●	●	○	●	●	●	●	●
Darwin	○	○	○	●	●	●	●	○	○	○	○	○
Ballarat	●	●	●	●	●	○	○	○	●	●	●	●
Mandurah	●	●	●	●	●	●	○	●	●	●	●	●
Bendigo	●	●	●	●	●	●	○	●	●	●	●	●
Launceston	●	●	●	●	●	○	○	○	●	●	●	●
Mackay	●	●	●	●	●	●	○	●	●	●	●	●
Rockhampton	●	●	●	●	●	●	○	●	●	●	●	●
Coffs Harbour	●	●	●	●	●	●	○	●	●	●	●	●
Blue Mountains	●	●	●	●	●	○	○	○	●	●	●	●
Bunbury	●	●	●	●	●	●	○	●	●	●	●	●
Bundaberg	●	●	●	●	●	●	○	●	●	●	●	●
Alice Springs	●	●	●	●	●	●	○	●	●	●	●	●
Mildura	●	●	●	●	●	●	○	●	●	●	●	●
Port Macquarie	●	●	●	●	●	●	○	●	●	●	●	●

Around the world
Town	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec
Auckland	●	●	●	●	●	●	○	●	●	●	●	●
Wellington	●	●	●	●	●	●	○	●	●	●	●	●
Christchurch	●	●	●	●	●	○	○	○	●	●	●	●
London	○	○	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	○
Manchester	○	○	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	○
Edinburgh	○	○	●	●	●	●	○	●	●	●	○	○
Dublin	○	○	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	○
New York City	○	○	●	●	●	●	○	●	●	●	○	○
Los Angeles	○	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●
Chicago	○	○	●	●	●	●	○	●	●	●	○	○
Seattle	○	○	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	○
Austin	○	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●
Toronto	○	○	●	●	●	●	○	●	●	●	○	○
Vancouver	○	○	●	●	●	●	○	●	●	●	○	○
Cape Town	●	●	●	●	●	●	○	●	●	●	●	●
Johannesburg	●	●	●	●	●	●	○	●	●	●	●	●
Singapore	●	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	●	●	●
Mumbai	●	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	○	●	●	●
Paris	○	○	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	○
Berlin	○	○	●	●	●	●	○	●	●	●	○	○

How to plant turnip

Sow seed 1 cm deep in firm soil.
Thin to 10 cm apart.
Keep evenly moist.
Pull at golf-ball size, before they turn woody.

Turnip varieties

Classic varieties are the reliable, widely grown ones. Adventurous ones are heirlooms, odd colours and rarities.

Purple Top White Globe Classicheirloom · storage · 7–10 wksClassic round white-and-purple turnip
Tokyo Cross Classicfast · mild · hybrid · 5–6 wksSmall, sweet white turnips in six weeks
White Egg Classicfast · mild · 6–8 wksEgg-shaped roots; crisp and sweet
Golden Globe Adventurouscolourful · sweet · 7–9 wksYellow-fleshed turnip with buttery flavour

Where to buy seeds

Search on The Diggers Club Search on Seeds of Plenty Search on Happy Valley Seeds Search on Amazon

Shop links may earn us a commission. It never changes what we recommend.

Shops shown are for Australia. The chooser picks shops for your country.

Good companions

Pea, Onion, Bean

Turnip by month

Jan · Feb · Mar · Apr · May · Jun · Jul · Aug · Sep · Oct · Nov · Dec

More to plant

Potato · Carrot · Beetroot · Radish · Parsnip · Swede

Not sure turnip is right for your space? Answer a few taps and see everything that can go in this week.

Find what else you can plant now