Root Vegetables

BEETS

(Beta vulgaris) – EARLY WONDER produces dark red flattened globe roots and tasty greens. The earliest beet I grow. DETROIT (1892) is the standard round red variety.
FORMANOVA has deep red roots up to 6" long and 2"-3" in diameter, ideal for slicing.
SWEETHEART (1958) was bred by Dr. Meader of the University of New Hampshire with some sugar beet parentage, making it sweeter for fresh eating and winter storage. It is a large somewhat top shaped beet that is not very uniform.
BULL'S BLOOD (1840) has deep red smooth leaves (lovely in salads when they are young) and round dark red roots.
CRAPAUDINE is the oldest beet in cultivation, dating back perhaps to the time of Charlemagne (about 1000 years ago). It is a late variety with large roots and green leaves. The roots are long and thick, with rough black skin and sweet red flesh, and don't push their way out of the ground.
ALBINA VEREDUNA is a white beet with green leaves. The roots are mild and sweet, and the leaves are good for greens.
MAMMOTH LONG RED MANGEL is a beet that is used for animal feed. The long heavy roots are pink to red skinned with yellow flesh. They store well in a root cellar and can be fed all winter.

Early Wonder, Detroit, Formanova & Albina Vereduna 4g @ $2.50, 20g @ $8.00
Sweetheart, Bull's Blood, Crapaudine & Mangel only in 4g packets @ $2.50

CARROTS

(Daucus carota) – ROYAL CHANTENAY (C) has a 5"-6" root, about 2" at the top and tapering to a point. The roots are dark orange and good winter keepers.
RED ELEPHANT, also a Chantenay-type, is an older variety from England.
SCARLET NANTES (C) is a cylindrical half-long coreless type, bright orange in colour. RUMBA has a Nantes-type cylindrical blunt root.
DRAGON PURPLE has a blunt cylindrical root, with an orange interior and a thin purple skin.
PHALZER has a long yellow root.
BELGIAN WHITE has been around since at least the mid-1800's. It has very long roots (often over 1') which push themselves out of the ground several inches and so have green tops. The roots don't have as much flavour as orange roots and are usually used to feed rabbits and chickens.

Royal Chantenay & Scarlet Nantes 2g @ $2.50, 10g @ $8.00
All other carrot seed 2g @ $2.50

ONIONS

– YELLOW GLOBE DANVERS (1865 or earlier) is a large round yellow onion that is a good winter keeper.
EVERGREEN WHITE BUNCHING (Allium fistulosum) is a perennial that produces green onions the first year from seed. Roots left in the ground over the winter produce clumps of early green onions.

2g @ $2.50

LEEK

– (Allium ampeloprasum) GIANT MUSSELBURGH (1870) (C) or AMERICAN FLAG has tall blue-green leaves and a thick white stalk. Cold hardy with a mild onion flavour.

Packet @ $2.50

PARSNIPS

(Pastinaca sativa) – SHORT THICK has roots about as long as Hollow Crown but they taper very rapidly so most of the root is in the first 6"-8". KRAL is called a round parsnip and it is true that their roots are shaped more like beets than parsnips. This is apparently an East European cultivar.

Kral 3g @ $2.50, Short Thick 5g @$2.50

RADISHES

(Raphanus sativus) – CHERRY BELLE (AAS 1949) is everybody's standard variety. FRENCH BREAKFAST (1879) is an oblong radish, scarlet with a white tip.
BIG WHITE PRINCE has roots the size of small summer turnips.
TRICOLOUR is an older Chinese radish variety with three colours on the root – green on top, white on the bottom and pink inside. A late season variety
DAIKON is a mild oriental radish and is slow bolting. The roots grow a foot long and an inch or so in diameter and store well.
RAT'S TAIL RADISH has a very small root and is grown for its long seeds pods which you harvest when they are pencil thin. Eat them raw or use them in stir fries.

10g @ $2.50 (except Rat's Tail and Tricolour: 5g @ $2.50)

SUMMER TURNIP

(Brassica rapa) – PURPLE TOP WHITE GLOBE (before 1880) (C) has nearly round white roots with purple tops.
GOLDEN BALL (1859) (C) has yellow roots with yellow flesh, an unusual colour for a summer turnip. SCARLET OHNO is a pickling turnip from Japan with all plant parts edible. Scarlet-skinned roots are round to flattened. Smooth strap leaves from scarlet to green with perhaps an occasional purple.

Packet @ $2.50

WINTER TURNIP or RUTABAGA

(Brassica napus) – LAURENTIAN (1935) (C) has a pale yellow root with a purple top. It is a good winter keeping variety which was bred in Quebec.
ALTA SWEET was bred in Alberta by Robert Simonet. It is sweeter than Laurentian but not as good a keeper.
JOAN has sweet, fine-textured yellow flesh. The roots are round, purple topped and have good resistance to club root.

3g @ $2.50