Brassica rapa “Rond de Nancy”
Rond de Nancy turnip, a white turnip with a purple shoulder, or Swedish turnip: this old Lorraine variety stands out for its speed — allow six to eight weeks between sowing and harvest. Its white flesh is mild and sweet, without the sharpness that has given turnips their unfair reputation as a famine vegetable.
Characteristics:
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Round root with a purple shoulder: tender, sweet white flesh.
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Very fast growth: just 6 to 8 weeks from sowing to plate.
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Very extended harvest period: from May to November, with good winter storage.
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Hardy and easy to grow: it tolerates cold well and requires little care.
Sowing advice:
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Position: sunny, or partial shade in midsummer.
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Soil: cool, loose, deep and free of stones, lightly enriched with well-rotted compost. Never add fresh manure, which causes the roots to fork.
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Method: sow directly in place — turnips do not transplant well — at a depth of 1 cm, in rows 25 cm apart. Can be grown outdoors or under cover. Stagger sowings every three weeks. See how to sow your seeds.
Care advice:
- Thin to 10 cm apart. The decisive factor: water regularly and never allow the soil to dry out. A thirsty turnip becomes sharp, hollow and fibrous — this is the number one cause of disappointment.
- Mulch to maintain moisture.
Harvesting advice:
- Harvest young, when about the size of a tennis ball. If left to grow larger, it becomes fibrous and loses its sweetness.
- Do not discard the leaves: they can be cooked in soup or pesto, and are delicious.
Beneficial pairings:
Biodiversity benefits:
- Its rapid growth makes it an excellent transitional crop for filling an empty bed and preventing bare soil.
- If left to flower, it produces clusters of highly nectar-rich yellow flowers that are valuable in spring.
Uses:
- Grated raw or mixed with other raw vegetables, glazed in butter, in casseroles, soups and stews — and, of course, with duck, the classic pairing. Young leaves can be eaten raw in salads or cooked in soup.
Saving your own seeds:
As a biennial, it produces seed in its second year: leave a few roots in the ground over winter, then harvest the dry brown seed pods. Be careful: it cross-pollinates with other Brassica rapa, especially Chinese cabbage. See how to save your seeds.
Commitment to Quality: at SemiSauvage - Permaculture, we grow and select our seeds with respect for all living things as our guiding principle. Based near the Auvergne Volcanoes, we choose open-pollinated, non-hybrid varieties, test them for germination rates, and carefully sort and package them without any chemical treatment. Our conviction: to restore gardeners’ ability to resow, year after year, seeds that truly belong to them.
A quick-growing, mild old-fashioned vegetable to rediscover.
