This was my first vegetable garden and it's been a learning experience to say the least. One problem I ran into was that none of my root vegetables did much of anything. The tops grew, but the roots didn't. My turnips were almost nonexistant (the greens were good at least!) and my carrots didn't grow much beyond 1" to 1 1/2" long. They were little stubby things, even long after the supposed maturation date. They didn't taste that great either.
Any ideas about what I was doing wrong?
root vegetables
Maybe you tried to grow them in the summer. They are cool weather crops. Grow them in early spring, better yet grow them in fall. In your neck of the woods, turnips can be planted in late August through September.
sswayse,
In order to grow carrots and turnips, turn the soil over several times. The soil should be loose and friable for root vegetables. Dig down at least a foot and keep turning the soil over and over. Make sure to rake out all the lumps and clumps. Root vegetables are heavy feeders. They like nitrogen and magnesium. After you till the soil and rake it smooth, mix in a 1/2 pound or so of 10-10-10, and about 12 ounces of Epsom salts, mix that in the first 2 or 3 inches of soil. Then sow the seed. Tamp it down good with the back of a rake. keep the soil moist, but not wet. Carrots require a regular supply of water to develope the "sugars" in the growing carrots. Don't harvest too many greens, or the turnips will be small. Allow the greens to grow until you see the turnips have reached full size. Now is a good time to sow root vegetables, and again in late February.