Purple Top
Brassicaceae
Turnip
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Purple Top White Globe has been grown in America since before the Civil War — it appears in 19th-century seed catalogs and was a staple of the colonial garden. The purple top and white bottom are iconic.
Turnips are an underrated PNW crop. Our mild falls produce exceptionally sweet turnips (frost converts starches to sugars). Purple Top is the classic variety. For the best turnips you have ever eaten: sow in August, harvest after the first October frost. Try Hakurei (salad turnip) for something revelatory — sweet, crisp, eaten raw like an apple.
Direct sow early spring (March-April) or late summer (August) for fall harvest — turnips are a cool-season crop that bolts in heat. Sow 1/2" deep, 9 seeds per sq ft. Thin to 3-4" apart. Keep evenly moist — drought stress makes turnips woody and bitter. Harvest at 2-3" diameter for sweetest flavor — larger turnips become woody. For greens, harvest a few outer leaves from each plant without damaging the root. Fall turnips are sweeter after frost.