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Despite having some setbacks on my summer crops, my spring root crops have been doing great. I planted turnips in late February and beets and carrots in March. Germination took a while with the cooler soil temps, but once they were established they did great.
I sampled my first bit of homegrown turnip yesterday. Did you know that the turnip greens actually hold more nutrition than the turnip root? They have a high amount of nutrition, and are great tasting when lightly sauteed with a bit of coconut oil, sea salt, and garlic. The roots themselves can be cooked similarly to a potato. One of my favorite ways to prepare the turnip root is to cube equal parts turnip and potatoes and boil to make "mashed potatoes". They will mash up right with your potatoes and you'll hardly know they are there. You can also cut the turnip roots into fries and bake them, but they will take a bit longer to cook than potatoes.
The beets are coming along nicely now as well. Just like the turnip, the beet "greens" are also the most nutritious part of the plant. Beet greens are very similar to Swiss chard. They can be eaten fresh in a salad, or stir fried with other veggies. They have a great mild taste. The beet roots can be made into Kvass, a fermented beet juice tonic, cooked in soups or stews, or baked. I'm going to have to get creative with the beets this year because we have a TON of them.
The carrots are also coming along nicely, but seem to be the slowest growing of them. They were the last to germinate of the bunch. Carrots are another great tasting root crop, and you can eat their greens as well! It's funny that we rarely see the most nutritious part of these plants in the grocery store. Carrot greens can be lightly sauteed to soften them up similarly to the turnip greens. The carrot root can be used in many dishes including soups, stews, eaten fresh, roasted, baked, or fermented with cabbage for kimchi and sauerkraut.
Thanks for reading my little garden update. I'll be sharing the progress in my summer garden soon. If you have any questions about planting or maintaining these types of plants I will be happy to answer. Have a great day!
