Tips for Choosing Good Turnip Companion Plants

Turnip Companion Plants – Turnip greens are a vegetable plant farmed mostly for its famed green leaves and bulbous white base.

This vegetable is a common addition to salads in many families, owing to its nutritious benefits and high vitamin content, which includes vitamins A, K, and C, calcium, and folate.

Turnips are fantastic for any garden, and companion planting is a gardening strategy that helps them bloom even more.

Companion planting takes advantage of the co-existing qualities of plants to guarantee soil viability and lower the likelihood of insect infestations.

In this post, you will learn about some of the finest turnip companion plants for your garden, the many advantages involved, and basic companion planting strategies to help you become an experienced DIY companion farmer. But first, what exactly is companion planting?

What is Companion Planting?

Companion planting is a gardening technique that includes growing two or more crops of the same breed together with the sole purpose of benefiting yields, such as insect control.

It enables you to cultivate garden products together, such as vegetables, herbs, and veggies, and to assist them in reaching peak health.

This strategy also helps to keep pests and insects at bay, as well as preserve good soil and enhance the taste of turnip greens.

Now that we’ve established what companion planting entails, let’s look at some of the finest companion plants for turnip greens:

9 Best Turnip Companion Plants

Turnips are easy-going plants that will benefit from a variety of companion plants. Turnips may be interplanted with any of the companion plants listed below for optimal health and yield.

1. Allium sativum (garlic)

Garlic, a member of the onion genus Allium, is a perennial blooming plant that develops from a bulb.

It is native to northern Iran and Central Asia and has long been used as a common spice all over the globe, having a history of several thousand years of human usage and consumption. Garlic grows well in zones 4 through 9.

2. Nepeta spp. (catnip)

Turnip is a short-lived perennial herbaceous plant that makes an excellent companion plant for catnip. Catnip, also known as catswort, catmint, and catwort, is a plant of the genus Nepeta and a member of the family “Lamiaceae.”

It is native to eastern and southern Europe, Central Asia, the Middle East, and portions of China. It may grow to be 50 to 100 cm (20 to 40 inches) tall and broad, and it blooms from late spring through fall. It is hardy in zones 3 through 9.

3. Allium tuberosum (garlic chives)

Garlic chives have an oniony root and are members of the “Liliaceae” family. The plant is often cultivated for its attractive blooms and stems, and it is not edible, unlike onions or other varieties of garlic.

Garlic chives grow 12 to 15 inches tall and are hardy in zones 5 through 10.

4. Cauliflower (Brassica oleracea var. capitata)

Cabbage is a leafy green, white (pale green), or red (purple) biennial plant used as an annual vegetable crop for its densely leafed heads. It is a member of the mustard family and the genus Brassica.

5. Allium cepa (onion)

For almost 7,000 years, the onion plant has been cultivated and developed. It is a vegetable and the most widely farmed member of the genus Allium.

The onion is a biennial plant that is often cultivated as an annual. Onion cultivars grown nowadays may reach heights of 15 to 45 cm (6 to 18 inches).

6. Broccoli (Brassica oleracea var. italica)

Broccoli is a member of the cabbage family and a delicious green plant.Its huge blooming head, stem, and few accompanying leaves are often consumed as vegetables. Broccoli is high in vitamin C and K and may be grown with turnips.

7. Thyme (Thymus vulgaris)

You can’t speak about turnips without discussing thyme. They are related to the oregano genus, Origanum.

Thyme has decorative, culinary, and medicinal benefits, with Thymus vulgaris being the most widely utilized for culinary reasons.

Thyme grows well in well-drained soil in a hot, sunny climate. It is normally planted in the spring and thrives as a perennial after that. Thyme may be grown through cuttings, seeds, or splitting the rooted parts of the plant.

It is a drought-tolerant plant that is perennial in zones 5 through 9, or wormwood (Artemesia absinthium) in zones 3 through 9.

8. Peas (Pisum sativum)

A pea is an annual plant with a one-year life cycle that is cultivated in many regions of the globe. Peas may be grown from winter through early summer, depending on where you live.

Plant the seeds as soon as the soil temperature reaches 10 °C (50 °F), and the plants will grow best at temperatures ranging from 13 to 18 °C (55 to 64 °F).

9. Vetch (Vicia sativa)

Veitch, also known as common Vicia sativa, tare, or garden vetch, is a nitrogen-fixing leguminous plant of the Fabaceae family.

Although this tough plant is often seen as a weed when discovered growing in a farmed grainfield, it is frequently grown as cattle feed or green manure.

Thyme and catnip are excellent companion plants for turnips because they attract beneficial insects such as lacewings, ladybugs, and parasitic wasps that feed on turnip pests.

What Is the Purpose of Turnip Companion Plants?

Turnip plants are pleasant and nutritious, and their fleshy foliage attracts pests and flies.

Turnips are often cultivated from seed from late winter to early spring for a summer harvest or from late summer to early autumn for a first winter crop.

Greens may be gathered using the “cut and grow again” method just above the root top, allowing them to sprout throughout the season without interfering with the root’s growth.

Pest activity increases as the temperature rises. Pests such as flies, flea beetles, aphids, and cabbage loppers all compete for your precious turnip greens.

Aphids are 1/8-inch-long, pinkish egg-shaped insects that feed on succulents; they drain the juice from the bottom of your turnip leaves.

Flea beetles are brown insects that are about 1/8 inch long and travel quickly, botching small circular holes in turnip leaves.

Cabbage loopers, on the other hand, are brilliant green caterpillars that measure approximately 1 1/2 inches long and have yellow lines down their backs. They nick the leaves and create ragged holes in them, and they are clearly harmful to seedlings.

These cold-weather-loving plants are often mocked by these pests and insects if not properly protected. It is critical that you fight off pests that infest the sensitive turnip tops and roots while producing turnips for a plentiful green yield.

Growing turnip companion plants helps you fight off these harmful pests without putting yourself or other beneficial plants in danger by applying chemical insecticides.

They provide a healthier alternative by employing plants that attract helpful insects, plants that capture undesirable insects, and plants that repel insects.