🌍 Built for UK, USA, Canada & Worldwide Gardens Free Growing Guides for Every Region Love It or Your Money Back Secure Checkout Instant PDF Download Checked Against RHS, USDA & Agri-Food Canada Data Free Garden Layout Planner
🌍 Built for UK, USA, Canada & Worldwide Gardens Free Growing Guides for Every Region Love It or Your Money Back Secure Checkout Instant PDF Download Checked Against RHS, USDA & Agri-Food Canada Data Free Garden Layout Planner
Move through the SoilCommander growing library like a course: keep the navigation in place, open the next lesson, and build your garden plan step by step.
Both crops are documented hosts of Club root. These pathogens persist in soil for many years -- RHS gives up to 20 years for club root resting spores, at least 15 years for allium white rot sclerotia, and advises a five-year gap before replanting onions or shallots after downy mildew -- so the two…
Both crops are documented hosts of Club root. These pathogens persist in soil for many years -- RHS gives up to 20 years for club root resting spores, at least 15 years for allium white rot sclerotia, and advises a five-year gap before replanting onions or shallots after downy mildew -- so the two…
Both crops are documented hosts of Club root. These pathogens persist in soil for many years -- RHS gives up to 20 years for club root resting spores, at least 15 years for allium white rot sclerotia, and advises a five-year gap before replanting onions or shallots after downy mildew -- so the two…
Both crops are documented hosts of Club root. These pathogens persist in soil for many years -- RHS gives up to 20 years for club root resting spores, at least 15 years for allium white rot sclerotia, and advises a five-year gap before replanting onions or shallots after downy mildew -- so the two…
Plasmodiophora brassicae produces resting spores that contaminate the soil and remain viable for many years, so any brassica following an infected crop is re-infected from the ground itself. Keep every brassica -- including radish, swede and turnip, which gardeners often forget are brassicas --…
Plasmodiophora brassicae produces resting spores that contaminate the soil and remain viable for many years, so any brassica following an infected crop is re-infected from the ground itself. Keep every brassica -- including radish, swede and turnip, which gardeners often forget are brassicas --…
Plasmodiophora brassicae produces resting spores that contaminate the soil and remain viable for many years, so any brassica following an infected crop is re-infected from the ground itself. Keep every brassica -- including radish, swede and turnip, which gardeners often forget are brassicas --…
Quick Facts
Factor
Value
Soil pH
6 - 6.5
Germination temp
15.6C
Optimal growing temp
14-24C
Minimum survivable temp
-1C
Soil texture
RHS: "moist but free-draining, fertile soil" in an "open, sunny site". RHS advises applying lime to raise the pH if the soil is acidic but states no target figure, so soil_ph_min/max are left null.
Drainage
RHS: moist but free-draining.
At a Glance
Soil & Growing Conditions
Water: RHS: "Water young swede plants regularly until well rooted. Then aim to keep the soil evenly moist by watering during dry spells". Clemson (whose turnip factsheet also covers rutabaga): "Watering is critical during the seedling stage and the root development stage"; keep "the soil moist but not saturated".
Soil pH range
66.5
Span reflects genuine variation between the cited authorities, not a single agreed figure.
Growth Stages
Stage
BBCH
Notes
Sowing & germination
0
Sow 2cm deep, rows 38cm apart. RHS.
Thinning
3
Thin seedlings to 20-25cm apart once large enough to handle. RHS.
Root development
4
Slow growing, taking up to six months to mature from sowing. RHS.
Harvest & storage
8
Usually ready from early autumn onward; can be left in the ground into winter, some varieties holding to January. In colder regions, protect in situ with straw, cloches or fleece, or lift in late autumn and store in moist sand in a frost-free shed. RHS.
Harvest & Storage
When to pick: RHS: lift "as baby veg after only a few weeks, as young roots about 5cm (2in) in diameter or, more usually, when 10-15cm (4-6in) across". Clemson gives a specific rutabaga (swede) benchmark: "Start harvesting rutabagas when they reach the size of a softball (3 to 4 inches in diameter)" -- larger than the 10-15cm RHS figure but of the same order.
Storage
Clemson: "These roots store well in plastic bags in the refrigerator or a cold root cellar". RHS: store in "containers of moist sand or peat-free potting compost in a frost-free shed or garage".
RHS symptom in swede: "Discoloured flesh or rotting hearts in swedes, turnips and celeriac". Boron is "less available in alkaline soils (above pH 7)". Correction: test soil pH and avoid liming already-alkaline soil; short term, fritted trace elements containing boron before sowing or planting.
The two rounded seed leaves (cotyledons) appear first and look nothing like the true leaves that follow -- useful to recognise so a tray of seedlings doesn't get mistaken for weeds at this stage.
The first true leaf, shaped like the adult foliage, appears within days of the cotyledons. RHS: thin seedlings to 20-25cm apart once they reach this stage and are large enough to handle safely.
With several true leaves and a sturdy stem, plants raised in pots like this are ready to plant into their final growing position rather than staying root-bound in a small pot any longer.
Swede is slow growing but ends up covering the ground completely, the broad leaves shading out most weeds by midsummer. It stays in this leafy stage for months while the root swells unseen below.
Up to six months after sowing, this is the payoff -- a single root, lifted whole. RHS: swede can be left in the ground into winter, some varieties holding until January, or lifted in late autumn and stored in moist sand in a frost-free shed.
9 independent sources are cited for this crop. Where they disagree - soil pH is the clearest case - every figure is preserved rather than averaged into false precision.
Frequently Asked Questions
What soil pH do swede need?
A pH of about 6–6.5. That span reflects genuine variation between the authorities we cite rather than a single agreed figure — the References section lists each source's exact range.
What problems affect swede?
Our data links 1 disease and 2 pests to this crop. See the sections above for each one and how to manage it.
Plan next season before the problems start
This page gives you the thresholds; the planner turns them into your own calendar. It works from what you can observe and measure in your garden rather than from dates written for somebody else’s latitude.
Science-based growing guides · Thresholds that hold in any climate
This guide states the conditions the plant itself responds to — soil temperature, frost tolerance, day length — rather than dates, because the same calendar month means opposite seasons in the northern and southern hemispheres. Anything genuinely restricted to one part of the world is named as such rather than presented as universal. Written and maintained by our editorial team against international horticultural research and extension sources.
Sketch your exact plot shape, pick your crops, and get a spacing-accurate bed layout with companion pairings and a rotation plan. Spacing, companion pairings and rotation are the same in every climate and both hemispheres — pair the layout it gives you with when to plant to set your own timing from soil temperature.
