Root Crops Ideas, Tips & Guides

You’ve harvested the last of your squash, beans, and tomatoes. And now you are thinking about your more cold hardy crops. You may have heard that you can store carrots in the ground over winter – and perhaps you could use some pointers on how best to do this.While keeping them in the garden

Once you have become a seasoned veggie gardener, the next logical step is to preserve seeds from your own crops for future plantings – and future food.Seed saving can save you money, and

If you love both celery and root vegetables, you’ll adore this versatile veggie that’s like a two-in-one combo.The bulbous root known as celeriac, or Apium graveolens var. rapaceum,

Sometimes a garden presents you with an unexpected reason to rejoice. Usually that’s a flower – an unanticipated crocus blooming in the snow, or a crepe myrtle, presumed dead, sending up fresh growth.But my personal favorite garden surprise involved vegetables, during the first season I grew ‘C

Carrots that you grow yourself are crunchy, flavorful, and best of all, fresh! But the ‘Nantes’ variety is a good reminder that they’re not all the same.This type of Daucus carota is distinguished by its skin, which does not req

The last thing you want to find when it’s time to pull your carrots is that a bunch of grubs beat you to the anticipated carrot crunching.Those sweet, crisp roots were supposed to feed you and your fam

Lacking the sharpness of onion or the aromatic spice of garlic, the shallot somehow takes the best of both of those beloved alliums and blends them into one beautiful, sweet yet savory flavor.This unassuming bulb is used in a variety of cuisines around the world.

I’ll never understand why garlic scapes aren’t more popular. Outside of the community of garlic growers, most people I talk to have never even heard of them!Most grocery stores don’t sell them

I was introduced to Egyptian walking onions about 12 years ago by an older man named Terry.He was a kind person who seemed more at ease with the plants i

If you are looking to spice up your garden and grow something new this year, look no further than the rutabaga!We link to vendors to help you find relevant products. If you buy from one of our links, 

Ah, the humble potato. Fried, mashed, roasted, baked, or (my personal favorite) boiled and served with a knob of butter, spuds are a pantry staple, and the ultimate comfort food.We link to vendors to help you find relevant

Potatoes (Solanum tuberosum) suffer from a bit of a categorization dilemma.There are maincrops, which are sometimes harvested as earlies. Or

Beets, Beta vulgaris, can be a little bit controversial.Some people love them, and others think

For much of his young life, my son has carefully pre-screened each item of food he puts in his mouth.You might also call this picky

The cooler months just scream root vegetables to me. Maybe it’s because I’m a dietitian, but I look forward to it every year.One root veggie that I ge

You’ve probably never tasted a really excellent carrot, unless you’ve grown one yourself.Homegrown carrots are crisper, fresher, and come in a much wid

For a cool-season crop, it’s pretty hard to beat beets.They’re quick to grow, and you can have a harvest in six weeks,

If you’ve ever feasted on Indian food, you’ve undoubtedly enjoyed the pungent flavor and golden color of turmeric, Curcuma longa, aka Indian saffron, an herbaceous perennial in the Zingiberaceae family of plants that is related to ginger and cardamom.A chemical compound called curcumin found in the fleshy rhizomes of this plant

It’s heartbreaking when your turnip plants look perfectly healthy above ground, but underground, something sinister is happening.You have an image in your mind of

Long before beets were ever considered a food, they were used as herbal medicine.Surprising, right?

Summer’s end can bring a twinge of sadness.But it’s also when we get to reap the frui

I don’t know why parsnips aren’t more popular. Their cousin, the colorful carrot, is a kitchen garden must-have. But when you mention parsnips, it tends to elicit looks of confusion (if not disgust).I don’t get it. It can’t be the taste. They

Sampling the first crisp, sweet radish from your own garden is pure delight. I would argue that it’s the top springtime taste sensation for the vegetable gardener.But the best radish variety to enjoy for that spring

Beets often top lists of “perfect plants for beginners” because they aren’t too much of a challenge to grow.So it’s extra devastating when you step into your gard

I hate to be the one to break this to you, but you may have been wasting a delicious opportunity to harvest homegrown leafy greens.Do you grow radishes? Did you know you can eat th

There are some plants out there that I just won’t grow from seed. But not parsnips.These exceptional root veggi

Aside from a quick glance at the grocery store, I never paid parsnips much attention.But that changed a few years ago, when a fri

Let’s talk about the top five creative ways to grow potatoes in containers, as well as the benefits of using this method, and what’s required.When I think about my favorite w

Shallots aren’t always easy to find in US grocery stores.At least, not for me up here i

These days, it’s pretty common to stumble upon a home garden where nutritious red (and orange, purple, pink, golden, or striped) table beets are growing, but sugar beets are still mostly the domain of commercial and livestock growers.Beetroots, garden beets, table beets – whatever you call them, these are probably the

Growing beets is an exercise in faith.You work for weeks or months to nurture those little seedlings i

I like to think of planning my garden as a balancing act.While it takes a bit of self-restraint each year to

Wouldn’t it be convenient if you could regrow all of your veggies from scraps? It’s an intriguing idea, which might explain why it is discussed so much in various corners of the internet.It is true that growing some leafy veggies

So, you planted a bed of turnips in your garden this season. You cared for your plants, thinning, mulching, watering, managing pests, and watching them grow.Now what?You

It seems like my family nearly lives off of sweet potatoes.In a clean eating household these root tubers a

The parsnip,Pastinaca sativa, is a long, tapered root vegetable that looks like a white carrot.A long-season crop that is started early