| The Rutabaga is also known as the Swedish turnip; it is an extremely hardy plant and can be an excellent winter vegetable for temperate climates - North Carolina is probably not quite temperate enough, but parts of Georgia as well as Florida would be. The plant is know for its leaves (whejn young), and swollen root. The plant has small amounts of vitamin B and C, and is low in carbs and calories. It is a subspecies of the Rape family, which contains mustard. The Rutabaga gained popularity in the early 1900, about 1916 when Europe was suffering from massive food shortages and the failurte of the potato crop. The rutabaga was populous enough so that it helped to forestall the worse that could have happened. Since then, many recipes have evolved - this vegetable is often looked down on, and indeed is known as 'peasant food' , but it is one of the easiest vegetables to grow and can be used in a multitude of ways, similar to the potato. They can be sliced and roasted, they make a good additive in casseroles or stews, and they are delicious mashed, supplying a good, low carb alternative to mashed potatoes (don't leave out the gravy though!). |
| Rutabega |
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| Rutabaga Brassica napus |
| Cultivation The Rutabega requires a long growing season, but as with many vegetables you should be able to fit two crops in each year, starting one in the ealry spring. For this crop, you will want to cover the ground with black plastic a few weeks before to warmn the soil. Pack and then water the soil thoroughly before planting the seeds. Care must be taken with this early crop especially, and need to be sheltered. Plant the seeds .75 inches deep and plant one seed every six inches. Allow to grow to about an inch high until the first true leaves appear, and then thin so there is one plant every foot. Firm the soil around the base of each plant after thinning the plants. They like a lot of sun but can do as well in moderate shade, and prefer a slightly moist soil - a seeper hose on a timer set for 3 - 4 times a day would be excellent for this. The Rutabaga does prefer a slightly acidic soil, 5.5 to nuetral (7). As recommended elsewhere, it is best to do this naturally and stir in lots of organic compost the previous year, or at least whern tilled in early spring. This plant does need plenty of water - up to 2 gallons per square yard per week in warmer and drier climes - so get those feeder hoses and timers out! Harvest will occur early to mid fall, depending on when you planted or if you planted one crop early. The plants can be left in the ground until needed - they are quite hardy, but don't leave them to long or they will become woody. They should be dug when they are about the size of a grapefruit, and can be stored in cool, dry dark areas in wooden boxes, or cardboard. Smaller Ruatabaga are said to be more tasty and tender, so you do not need to wait for them to gain full size. They run to some common diseases, especially those suffered by turnips - these include powdery mildew, clubroot, and at the early stages flea beetles - the rutabagas also grow well with peas. |
| back to Sweden, and was eaten in France and southern Europe in the sixteenth century. It was brought to England as a crop from Holland in 1755. The plant was also used, in the past, as an aid to the treatment of coughs, kidney stones and whooping cough. They are not, as far as I can tell, in use by any modern herbologist. |