Root Vegetables: How to Grow Carrots, Radishes and Potatoes
A guide to root vegetables as one group: what counts as a root crop, how true roots, tubers and storage roots differ, why most are sown where they grow, loose soil, spring and fall timing, thinning distances and storage, with a member table linking each root crop guide.
Sources: Penn State Extension, Oregon State University Extension, Purdue University Plant ID Pal, Utah State University Extension and 4 more. See the sources we used. How we source our guides
On this page
Root vegetables are crops grown for a swollen underground part. The term is a cook's category, not a botanical one: beets, turnips, carrots, parsnips and radishes are taproots, while potatoes and onions are underground stems. Most true root crops are sown in place, since transplanting damages the young taproot.
The true roots share one way of growing: sow them where they will stay, in loose soil, thin them hard, and dig them in cool weather. Below you will find how roots, tubers and bulbs differ, why carrots and radishes resent a move, soil for straight roots, spring and fall timing, thinning distances side by side, a storage table with the places our sources disagree, and a member table linking each root crop guide.
What are root vegetables?
Root vegetables are the crops you grow for the part that forms below ground. What grows underground can be either a root or a stem, which is why the kitchen term covers several different plant parts. A root anchors the plant, takes up water and minerals, and stores food, and in several vegetables an enlarged root is the part you eat.
- Taproots: carrots, parsnips, salsify and radishes are long taproots; turnips, beets, celeriac and jicama are taproots too.
- Tuberous roots: sweet potatoes, whose thickened side roots store food through the off season.
- Underground stems: potatoes, which are true tubers, and onions, which are true bulbs.
Root crops are not one plant family, and that matters for rotation. Carrots and parsnips are in the parsley family, radishes, rutabagas and turnips in the mustard family, and beets in the goosefoot family. So radishes, turnips and rutabagas follow the rules of the cabbage family: plant turnips and rutabagas where none of these has grown for the past four years: cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, kale, collards, Brussels sprouts, mustard, turnips or rutabagas. Potatoes rotate with tomatoes and their relatives (see our nightshades guide): keep them out of beds that grew tomatoes, potatoes, peppers, eggplants or tomatillos in the past three or four years.
True roots, tubers and bulbs: how they differ in the garden
The quickest test: stems have nodes and roots do not. The eyes on a potato are nodes, each holding a cluster of buds, which is why a potato piece can sprout and a carrot slice cannot. Put another way, a true tuber is botanically a modified stem, not a root, even though it grows underground.
| Kind | What it is | Crops | What you plant |
|---|---|---|---|
| Taproot | The main root, grown long and thick to store food; no nodes | Carrots, parsnips, radishes, beets, turnips | Seed, sown where the crop will grow |
| Tuberous root | Thickened side roots made of root tissue, with no nodes; also called storage roots, not tubers | Sweet potatoes | Slips, the sprouted shoots, once the soil reaches 65 F |
| Tuber | A fleshy underground stem whose eyes are buds | Potatoes | Seed tubers or pieces of them, not true seed; each piece needs an eye and should be about golf ball size |
| Bulb | A short, compressed underground stem wrapped in fleshy scale leaves, with a papery skin | Onions | Seed, transplants or sets |
The difference shows up three times in a season. It decides what you plant: seed for the true roots, cut pieces for potatoes, sprouted shoots for sweet potatoes. It decides timing: the true roots mostly take cool weather, while the sweet potato is a very tender warm-season crop. And it decides storage: carrots and beets want cold and damp, while potatoes and sweet potatoes are cured first, and sweet potatoes are kept much warmer, as the storage table below shows.
Onions, garlic and leeks are bulb crops with their own way of growing. An onion bulb is swollen, fleshy leaf bases under a skin that turns papery as it dries, and the part of a leek you eat is a bundle of fleshy leaf bases. Each has its own guide: onions, garlic and leeks. The rest of this page is about the roots and the two root-like crops grown with them.
Why root crops are sown direct
Sow the true roots where they will grow. Direct seed carrots and parsnips; don't start them in pots, since their long taproots start developing early and a move damages and misdirects them. One guide puts radishes, carrots and beets among the crops that do not tolerate transplanting. And a move sets any seedling back for one reason at least: the fine root hairs that take up water usually live only a day or two and tear off easily when a plant is transplanted.
Beets are where the guides part ways. Another guide says beets can be transplanted, though it is seldom done, as long as you set the roots straight down so the beet forms properly. The two crops in this group grown from pieces rather than seed are potatoes, planted as seed tubers, and sweet potatoes, planted as slips.
- Small seed. Carrot and parsnip seed is tiny and can be hard to handle, so pelleted seed or seed tape helps: placed every 2 to 4 inches, it saves you the thinning.
- Row markers. Sow a few radish seeds in the carrot row, as some gardeners do. Radishes come up fast and mark the row, and you pull them as the carrots appear.
- Patience. Guides differ on carrots: one says carrot seed may need up to three weeks to come up, another only that it takes several days, so keep the row moist and wait. Radish seedlings appear within ten days, and turnips and rutabagas after about ten days.
- Depth. Cover carrot seed lightly, with no more than 1/2 inch of soil and as little as 1/4. Small radishes go at that same shallow depth and big ones as deep as 1 inch; beet seed goes about 1/2 inch deep, spaced an inch apart.
- Crust. Heavy rain or heavy watering can leave a crust that may hold tiny seedlings back; moistening it with a light spray may help them through.
Loose, stone-free soil for straight roots
Give roots soil they can push through. Carrots want deep, loose soil that drains well and is free of rocks, clods and debris. Forked or split roots can come from rocky, heavy or compacted soil, and drought can split them too.
- How deep to loosen. Loosen the radish bed at least six inches deep, and a foot or more where long kinds will grow; raised beds help with daikon.
- Soil type. Sandy loam suits carrots and parsnips. Heavier clay works for carrots if it drains and is not compacted, but parsnips belong in sandy, loamy soil, not heavy clay or silt, and shallow, heavy or rocky ground is poor for them.
- Short types for heavy soil. Chantenay carrots handle shallow, heavy soil better than the long Imperator types, and stump-rooted or round carrots suit heavy clay or containers. For stony or very heavy soil, choose shorter daikon varieties.
- Raised beds. A raised bed suits carrots well, and its looser soil helps deep-rooted crops. Depth and fill are covered in our raised bed building guide.
- Feed nitrogen lightly. Fresh manure's quick nitrogen can make radish and turnip roots branch, and too much nitrogen can give carrots lush tops at the expense of roots. Use compost or manure that has fully rotted instead, added in spring or fall.
- Soil pH. Aim for 6 to 7 for carrots, radishes and rutabagas, and 6 to 7.5 for turnips. Test before you adjust.
Use the flow below to match the root to your ground.
Spring and fall timing for root vegetables
Grow most root crops in cool weather: spring, then again for fall. As a group they are mostly cool-season crops that grow in spring and fall. Turnips and potatoes are among the very hardy vegetables that withstand freezing, and beets, carrots and radishes among the frost-tolerant ones, which can take light frost but not a freeze. Sweet potatoes are the exception: they are a very tender warm-season crop.
| Crop | Spring | Fall | Tied to |
|---|---|---|---|
| Carrots | Once the soil is at least 45 F; from April 15 in MN | 10 to 12 weeks before the first fall frost | Soil temperature and first frost; MN date |
| Radishes | Early April through early May | August 1 to September 1; daikon often sown in late summer, for digging in late fall | MN dates |
| Turnips | From April 15 | From August 1 | MN dates |
| Rutabagas | Not a spring crop: they need a long season but must mature in cool weather | Sow from late May to early June to harvest in fall | MN dates |
| Beets | About 30 days ahead of the frost-free date | Sow again every 3 to 4 weeks until midsummer | Frost-free date |
| Parsnips | From May 1 | Can stay in the ground into late fall, or until early spring | MN dates |
| Potatoes | Once the soil warms (early April near the Twin Cities) | No fall sowing given | Soil warmth; MN date |
| Sweet potatoes | Slips go out after the soil reaches 65 F and frost danger has passed | Dig before frost | Soil temperature and frost |
The MN dates are Minnesota's own calendar. Count yours from your frost dates instead: use our frost dates page, which looks them up by ZIP code, or open the crop guide, where each crop's timing is turned into dates for four sample cities.
Heat can hurt quality. Radishes can bolt, turn too hot or become woody once summer heat sets in, and turnips grown in hot weather, or left to grow too large, can be poor. Cold works the other way for some: cold soil raises the sugar in parsnips, so the later you dig the sweeter they are, and frost improves rutabaga flavor, which is why many gardeners wait for at least one hard frost before digging them. For a steady supply of young carrots, sow two or three times, three weeks apart.
Thinning: the step that makes roots
Thin true root crops early, to a set spacing. Roots need room to swell, and when a crop makes leaves but no roots, crowding is the cause the sources name: carrots with healthy tops and little root are usually crowded, radishes planted too close do not form roots, and overcrowding from poor thinning is the most frequent reason beets grow tops and no roots.
| Crop | Thin to | When |
|---|---|---|
| Carrots | 1 to 4 inches | When seedlings are about 2 inches tall in one guide, or the largest are 3 to 4 inches tall in another |
| Radishes | About 2 inches; daikon 4 to 6 inches | Once the roots are big enough to eat |
| Turnips | 3 to 6 inches, by the root size you want | Once true leaves appear |
| Rutabagas | 8 inches | Once true leaves appear |
| Beets | 1 to 3 inches | Early; if left until plants are 3 inches tall, the thinnings cook as greens |
Beets need extra thinning for a reason: each beet "seed" is a dried fruit holding a cluster of seeds, so several seedlings may come up together. For carrots, one guide snips the extra seedlings rather than pulling them, to avoid disturbing the roots that stay; another thins by pulling. Pull weeds at the same pass. The thinnings are food: beet thinnings can be cooked like spinach, and turnip thinnings can be used as greens before the roots start to swell.
Storing root vegetables after harvest
Most true roots keep longest cold and very humid, with the tops cut off, while potatoes and sweet potatoes are cured first, and sweet potatoes are stored much warmer. The table gives the range for each crop and notes where the guides differ.
| Crop | Store at | Relative humidity | Typically keeps | Where guides differ |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Carrots | 32 to 35 F | 90 to 100 percent | 4 to 6 months | Guides give 90 to 95 or 98 to 100 percent, and as long as 4 to 5 or 4 to 6 months |
| Beets | 32 to 35 F | 95 percent | 1 to 3 months | Several weeks in a plastic bag in the refrigerator |
| Turnips | 32 to 35 F | 90 to 95 percent | Guides disagree: 4 to 5 months, or one to two weeks | One guide says turnips lose moisture fast and will not store long-term: one to two weeks refrigerated |
| Rutabagas | 32 to 40 F | 90 to 95 percent | 2 to 4 months, or up to five in a root cellar | One guide stores them at 32 to 35 F; another gives root cellar conditions of 32 to 40 F and 95 percent, and likely shorter storage after a wet season |
| Parsnips | 32 to 35 F | 90 to 95 percent | 2 to 6 months | A root cellar for fall-dug roots |
| Potatoes | 32 to 40 F as a rule | 90 to 95 percent | 5 to 8 months | One guide cures them two weeks at 50 to 60 F, then stores them at 40 F, since below 40 F they turn sugary; another gives 32 to 40 F as a rule |
| Sweet potatoes | 55 to 60 F, after curing | 85 to 90 percent | 4 to 6 months | The guides agree |
| Radishes | The refrigerator | One to two weeks |
- Cut the tops. Cut carrot tops off right after harvest, leaving 1/2 to 1 inch of stem on each root; this slows moisture loss and helps carrots stay crisp.
- Know the refrigerator's limits. Home refrigerators run dry and usually above 32 F, so carrots lose moisture and can start to sprout there, which keeps refrigerator carrots for near-term use.
- Keep potatoes dark and apart. Light turns potatoes green. Cut away green areas before cooking, and skip eating any potato that is green over a large area. Keep them away from apples and other ripening fruit, whose ethylene gas encourages tubers to sprout.
- Cure sweet potatoes gently. Commercial curing runs at 85 F, hard to copy at home, so cure them partway somewhere warm and covered, such as a garage: guides suggest a week or so, or 10 to 14 days of air-drying in a warm, shady spot. Below 55 F they can turn off-flavored and discolor. Don't wash or rub them before storing.
- Dig with a fork. Loosen the soil beside a carrot with a garden fork before you pull, or the root can break. Parsnips can reach 10 to 12 inches long, so dig them, and big rutabagas, with a spading fork.
Root vegetable guides
Every linked crop in the table has its own full guide with planting dates, depth and spacing. Beside each one is our pick of what to watch for, taken from the sources on this page. Radishes, turnips and rutabagas are also cabbage family crops, so their rotation and pests are covered with the rest of that family in our brassicas guide.
| Crop | Kind | Plant as | What to watch (our pick) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Carrots | Taproot | Seed, sown in place | Roots can fork in rocky, heavy or compacted soil; mound soil over exposed shoulders to keep them from greening |
| Radishes | Taproot | Seed, sown in place | Usually ready in three to five weeks; can go hot or woody in summer heat |
| Turnips and rutabagas | Taproot (turnips) | Seed, sown in place | Turnips are usually picked when about 2 to 3 inches wide; many gardeners dig rutabagas only after at least one hard frost |
| Potatoes | Tuber, an underground stem | Seed tubers | Hill soil up as they grow so tubers stay out of the light |
| Sweet potatoes | Tuberous storage root | Slips | Dig before frost; soil below 50 F can chill-injure the roots |
| Beets | Taproot | Seed; each one is a cluster | Tops but no roots most often means crowding from poor thinning |
| Parsnips | Taproot | Seed, sown in place | Some people get a rash from the leaves, especially in bright sun |
What you'll need for root vegetables
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Truper Spading Fork, 4-Tine, D-Handle
Loosen the soil beside a carrot with a garden fork before you pull, or the root can break.
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Sources we used
We saved all fifteen pages in October 2026. They part ways on carrot germination, beet transplanting, carrot thinning and the storage of carrots, turnips, rutabagas and potatoes; on each of those, the page gives each side or the full range.
- "Penn State Extension: Edible Roots, Stems, and Bulbs"
- "Oregon State University Extension: Vegetative plant parts (EM 9904)"
- "Purdue University Plant ID Pal: onion"
- "Utah State University Extension: Utah Root Crop Production"
- "University of Minnesota Extension: Growing carrots and parsnips"
- "University of Minnesota Extension: Growing radishes"
- "University of Minnesota Extension: Growing turnips and rutabagas"
- "University of Minnesota Extension: Growing potatoes"
- "University of Minnesota Extension: Planting the vegetable garden"
- "University of Maryland Extension: Growing Carrots in a Home Garden"
- "University of Maryland Extension: Growing Sweet Potatoes in a Home Garden"
- "University of Maryland Extension: Growing Vegetables in Raised Beds"
- "Illinois Extension: Beet"
- "Illinois Extension: Time Your Vegetable Plantings by Cold Hardiness"
- "Iowa State University Extension: Storing Winter Storage Vegetables"
Related guides
- Carrots, from sowing to storage
- Radishes for spring and fall
- Turnips and rutabagas
- Sweet potatoes from slips
- Brassicas: the cabbage family
- Start a garden: first steps
Frequently asked questions
Are potatoes root vegetables?
In the kitchen, yes; botanically, no. A potato is a tuber, a swollen underground stem: true tubers are modified stems, not roots, and a potato's eyes are the stem's nodes. That is why you plant seed tubers or pieces with an eye, not seed.
Are onions root vegetables?
Not botanically. An onion is a bulb, a short underground stem wrapped in fleshy scale leaves; the bulb is enlarged leaf bases with a papery outer skin. Root vegetable is a kitchen category, so the answer depends on whether you mean the plate or the plant.
Which root vegetables grow fastest?
Garden radishes, comparing the times our sources give. They are typically ready three to five weeks from planting and turn fibrous and strong if left too long. Carrots take 65 to 75 days from seed, and beets about 60 days to reach 1 1/2 inches across.
Can you transplant root vegetables?
Usually not. One guide says carrots, radishes and beets do not take well to transplanting, and moving a carrot damages and misdirects its taproot. Another allows that beets can be transplanted, though it is seldom done. Potatoes and sweet potatoes are the exceptions: you plant seed tubers and slips.
Why are my carrots forked?
Rocky, heavy or compacted soil can make the roots fork, and drought can split roots too. Loosen the bed deeply and clear out stones and clods. In heavy clay, grow short types such as Chantenay or round carrots, which suit those soils.
How do you store root vegetables?
Cold and humid for most true roots: carrots, beets, turnips, rutabagas and parsnips keep at 32 to 35 F with high humidity, tops cut off, and rutabagas at up to 40 F in a root cellar. Potatoes keep at 32 to 40 F as a rule, though one guide holds cured potatoes at 40 F because colder storage turns them sugary. Sweet potatoes keep warmer, 55 to 60 F, since colder storage can harm their flavor.
Why do my radishes or beets grow leaves but no roots?
Crowding, in most cases. Radishes planted too close do not develop roots, and overcrowding from poor thinning is the most frequent cause of beets with tops and no roots. Thin radishes to about 2 inches apart and beets to 1 to 3 inches.