Most of us grow turnips for the roots and barely give the leaves a second thought. In fact, many gardeners remove the tops and put them straight onto the compost heap.
I think we’re missing a trick.
Turnip greens are incredibly nutritious – arguably even more so than the roots themselves. They are packed with vitamins A, C and K, along with calcium, fibre and beneficial plant compounds. In other words, the humble turnip is giving us two crops for the price of one.
Even better, the leaves can be harvested while the roots are still swelling below ground.
One of my favourite discoveries this year has been turnip top pesto.
My Cheat’s Version 🫒🍋🧄
I have never had much luck growing basil in Scotland, so I’ve developed my own shortcut.
I take:
- One inexpensive jar of green pesto
- A generous handful of fresh turnip greens
- A splash of extra virgin olive oil
- Juice of half a lemon
- One or two cloves of garlic
- A handful of pine nuts if I have them
- Optional: a few sun-dried tomatoes
Everything goes into the blender and is whizzed together into a thick, chunky paste.
The result is delicious. One small jar of shop-bought pesto becomes around three jars of richer, fresher, allotment pesto, packed with home-grown goodness.
It’s wonderful:
🍝 Stirred through pasta
🥔 Spooned over hot new potatoes
🍞 Spread on crusty bread or toast
🌭 Served alongside grilled sausages and vegetables
🥗 Dolloped onto salads or roasted vegetables
I love the stuff.
Waste Nothing ♻️
And what about the stalks left over after picking the leaves?
Don’t throw them away.
Chop them into small pieces and use them as a chop-and-drop mulch around hungry crops such as courgettes. The stalks are full of moisture and nutrients and soon wilt down, helping to feed soil life and retain moisture in the ground.
Just avoid piling them right against the stem of the plant.
So the cycle becomes:
🥬 Turnip leaves into pesto
🫙 Pesto into the kitchen
🌱 Stalks back onto the soil
🥒 Mulch feeds the courgettes
♻️ Almost nothing goes to waste
To me, this is what the kitchen garden is all about: growing what thrives in our climate, finding value in every part of the crop and turning simple ingredients into something rather special.
Perhaps the humble turnip has been keeping its biggest secret all along. Sometimes the best harvest isn’t the root growing underground at all – it’s the leaves waving above it. 🥬🌱