what does the soil depth have to be to grow root vegetables?

14 years ago

I plan to grow some root vegetables. The ones I will end up growing are turnips, white radishes (these are known as icicle radishes, at least that's what I've always seen them referred to on the seed packet), and carrots. The white radish is much larger than your typical red radish; regarding the length of the white radish, it resembles a carrot. Since it's bigger than a red radish would I have to make the soil depth deeper than you would make the soil depth for a regular red radish?

As a general rule of thumb what does the minimum depth of the soil have to be to grow any kind of root vegetable?

What is the recommended soil depth for growing root vegetables? I know some veggies have shallow roots, so as a result the soil depth doesn't have to be as deep as it

would be if you were planting root vegetables.

Last but not least what does the minimum soil depth have to be for the root vegetables I plan to grow? What is the recommended soil depth for the root vegetables I plan to grow. Just to recap and clarify, the root vegetables I plan to grow are carrots, white radishes (also known as icicle radishes), and turnips.

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Comments (5)

justaguy2
14 years ago
You need to have enough depth for the below ground portion to develop normally without hitting impenetrable objects like container walls or soil hardpan or excessively rocky soil. That's it.

Beyond allowing for normal root crop growth soil depth isn't all that important.
digdirt2
14 years ago
Your carrots and icicle radishes would want a minimum of 8 inches and 10" would be better. Otherwise grow different varieties.

Dave
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cyrus_gardner
14 years ago
I think that you have to have better than a full showell deppth of good well conditioned soil for everything.This will also provide good drainage. Some carrots are much longer than a foot if you count their food producing tips.
If you don't have good soil to a depth of 18", plant short varieties.
kawaiineko_gardener
Original Author
14 years ago
The variety of carrot I have is called little finger, which is a short variety. It says it's ideal for container gardening on the back of the seed packet.

Thanks for the soil depth recommendation regarding
carrots and radishes. I appreciate the guesstimate, which will help tremendously in deciding how deep to make the size of the plot.

Not to be rude as I do appreciate the advice given. If I come off that way, then my sincerest apologies as this isn't my intent. However I still have no clue what the soil depth should be for turnips. If somebody could give me a guesstimate as to what is a good soil depth for
turnips, I'd appreciate it. If possible and I could get a guesstimate as to the ideal soil depth is for turnips that would be great; if that's not feasible, don't worry about it. Please specify the recommended soil depth for turnips in inches.
digdirt2
14 years ago
Turnips - most species I know are ball shaped roots - would need 6" minimum and as with all things, deeper is better.

For greatest ease of gardening, make the whole garden bed as deep as you possibly can - as Cyrus said - 18" or even more. Normally things aren't planted according to soil depth or root depth - we just make the bed as deep as possible - within reason of course. ;) Turnips for example are seeded vary shallow at 1/4-1/2" deep but if you want globes of a decent size then they will need at least 6".

Dave