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American Purple Top Rutabaga (Swede)

American Purple Top Rutabaga (Swede)

Regular price $2.75 USD
Regular price Sale price $2.75 USD
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American Purple Top
Rutabaga (Swede)

120 days — 'American Purple Top' is a standard market variety in the United States and has been since at least the 19th century! Its roots are nearly globe shaped, four to six inches in diameter with twenty inch tall tops. The skin is a buff to light yellow color with purple tops. The flesh is firm and fine grained.

'American Purple Top' is an improved strain of 'Purple Top Yellow' and is a very old variety. Searching the horticultural library, the oldest mention of it that we found was an advertisement in the March, 1862 edition of the American Agriculturalist by R. H. Allen Seed Company of New York. By the late 1800s, many seedsmen began listing it in their catalogs as 'American Purple Top' or 'Improved American Purple Top'. Each packet contains one gram, which is approximately 250 seeds.
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Planting Instructions:
Days to germination – 6 to 10
Days to harvest – 120 days

Relatively easy to grow and very productive as a winter vegetable. Like other brassicas, they prefer well-drained, non-acid soil.

Sow seeds mid to late summer, one inch apart, ½ inch deep in rows 15 inches apart. Thin your planting in stages, selecting for the strongest plants, until they are spaced about eight inches apart. Keep cultivated and watered.

You don't have to wait until the roots are full-grown. Start lifting as soon as they are a reasonable size. Harvest throughout the winter and into spring.

The roots are nearly globe shaped, 4 to 6 inches in diameter with 20 inch tall tops. The skin is a buff to light yellow color with purple tops. The flesh is firm and fine grained. It was introduced sometime before 1920 as an improved strain of 'Purple Top Yellow'.