The Kohlrabi Root

Reader Contribution by S.M.R. Saia
Published on December 28, 2009
1 / 2
2 / 2

One thing new that I planted this past fall was Early Purple Vienna kohlrabi. I had never even tasted one before, and wasn’t entirely sure what it was. But it seemed interesting in the seed catalog – exotic even – and was a cool season vegetable. So I was game.

I sowed the seeds in early August directly into a bed enriched with manure and peat moss along with the turnips and the rutabaga seeds. Because I’d never planted rutabaga before either, and because we had a lot of heavy rain that moved all the seeds around a bit, when all the seedlings first started coming up I found it really hard to differentiate between the three. It wasn’t until they started to look like this that it became obvious to me which was the kohlrabi.

When it comes time to harvest them, kohlrabi are really hard to get out of the ground. You have to cut through the stem at the base of the bulb, and it takes some effort. There’s also a lot of prep work just to get at the goods. There are all the leaves and stalks to clear away, and they have to be peeled, a task to which with their octopus-like arms present something of a challenge. Why bother?

Well, here’s my reasons:

1. They are really easy to grow. Pretty much all of the seeds I put in came up.

Online Store Logo
Need Help? Call 1-866-803-7096