Harvesting Turnips Question

[craftymarie]

This is going to sound really stupid but I've never grown turnips before and never seen them growing either. This is the Manchester Market variety.

Are they meant to almost completely come above the soil as in my photo? Is it because it is ready to be harvested that this one has done this or have I done something wrong?

It is about 2 inches in width and the biggest one I have so far. So just wondering if it means (maybe it is in fact hinting to me) that this one is ready to be pulled up.

Any advice on best way of cooking wouldn't go amiss either. I tend to just steam or roast most of my vegetables so I'm not particularly adventurous on that front.

[Penellype]

Most turnips will push themselves out of the soil to some degree as they get bigger - its nothing to worry about. you can harvest turnips at any size but if they get too big they can become hard and woody. 2 inches is a good size.

I use mine mostly just steamed, but they are also nice in soups. I'm sure other people will have plenty of more adventurous ideas.

[Deano's "Diggin It"]

As "Lady P" said, being part of the beet family, they tend to push themselves out of the ground, nothing to worry about!

Regards eating, I love to just chop em into little nice cubes and throw em raw into a salad, my missus on the other hand prefers to boil em, blitz em and add em to the same said boiled n blitz carrots! not to my liking! depends on how ya wanna eat em!

[roitelet]

Just don't over cook them. Very nice cooked until almost done and then glazed with I little butter and a spot of sugar.They are an essential ingredient in veg soup.

[craftymarie]

Excellent, thank you for all the advice. So I was panicking for nothing Never having seen this process I thought it looked rather odd. I was just expecting to see the very top over the surface of the compost.

They seem to have suddenly grown rather a lot in the last week. Whether that was down to adding in some chicken manure pellets I don't know.

I might test a few out in different ways - never tried one raw so might try a small chunk to see what that tastes like. With some added butter certainly sounds good to me.