Turnip · Reading, England, United Kingdom
When to plant turnips in Reading
Main outdoor window
20 Mar - 3 Apr
The window this page is built around.
Timed from last spring frost
17 April
In Reading, on your chosen risk.
Ready to pick
29 Apr - 14 May
If you plant at the start of the window.
The average last frost. Half of all years are later than this.
Step by step in Reading
Each window is a range, not a single day. Earlier in the range buys you a longer season; later in it buys you a safer one.
Sow for autumn
15 Aug - 5 Sep
Counting back 69 days from your first frost so the crop matures in time.
Sow direct
20 Mar - 3 Apr
Four weeks before your last frost.
Harvest
29 Apr - 14 May
Turnips through the year
Against the frost risk in Reading
Why these dates
Autumn crops sown eight to ten weeks before first frost are sweeter and less prone to woodiness than anything grown into summer heat.
Tolerates -8C. Roots hold in the ground well past the first frosts.
Seed packets and extension guides express timing as weeks either side of the last spring frost, because that is the only reference point that travels. Turnips are timed for direct sowing 4 weeks before it, and this page simply resolves those offsets against the frost date computed for Reading.
The median frost-free season here is 210 days, against 40 to 55 days to maturity for this crop counted from sowing. That margin is what decides whether a late sowing is worth attempting.
Also in Reading
Other vegetables to time
Growing turnips in Reading
When should I plant turnips in Reading?
Aim for 20 Mar - 3 Apr in an average year. If you would rather not gamble on the weather, wait until 8-22 Apr - by then frost has finished in nine years out of ten.
When will turnips be ready to harvest in Reading?
Expect to start picking around 29 Apr - 14 May, based on 40 to 55 days to maturity from the planting date calculated for this location.
How much frost will turnips tolerate?
Tolerates -8C. Roots hold in the ground well past the first frosts.