How to Grow Kohlrabi
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Have you heard of kohlrabi? Learn how to grow kohlrabi. It’s sweet and crunchy, easy to grow and doesn’t take up a lot of room to grow. It’s a great addition to any vegetable garden. For when to grow any garden crop, check out this month by month garden planting guide.
I was amazed when I found out what kohlrabi was. Kohlrabi is my very favorite vegetable. We eat it any time we can find it.
Kohlrabi is AMAZING! It takes like broccoli stems, only a little sweeter. I love it raw, steamed, sautéed, or roasted and I love the leaves as well. It’s delicious in this lasagna recipe too! The kids really love growing it and most of them like it as well. They much prefer it cooked over raw though.
When I decided to start growing kohlrabi to see what it tasted like, everyone I told about it had never heard of it, so I thought I would share about it here in case you never have either. It’s so much fun to watch it grow. It takes a relatively small space so you can grow quite a few in a pretty small area.
When we grow kohlrabi, we start the seeds inside. We sow some directly into the soil outside but we always have better luck with our indoor seedlings. Last year, somehow we killed all of our seedlings, so we had to buy starts from a local nursery.
Growing kohlrabi
Kohlrabi grows fairly quickly compared to Brussels sprouts or broccoli. We like fast at Little Sprouts, the faster the better! So growing kohlrabi is just right for us.
The kohlrabi grows on a small root and right above the ground a strange bulb comes up and forms just above the soil surface. You continue to let it grow, and cut it off at the ground when it’s about baseball size. If you have a small space to grow, kohlrabi is a great choice!
I have seen some as big as softballs, and I have seen some smaller than a baseball, but baseball size is just about right for maximum deliciousness in my book.
Kohlrabi plant
I have seen green and purple varieties of kohlrabi plant. We have grown both. I love showing the kids different colors of veggies, like rainbow carrots or Easter egg or watermelon radishes. I love to see the awe and wonder they show.
We have been growing kohlrabi since our first gardening year and we have fallen in LOVE. The kids LOVE how funny it looks too. It’s kind of like a little alien thing. It’s an adventure in the garden.
How long does it take to grow kohlrabi
Kohlrabi takes about 45-60 days to produce. You can eat it at several stages, but if you let it grow very big, you’ll have to peel it. Smaller is better.
Plan kohlrabi seeds 8-10 inches apart about 1/4 inch in the ground. Just make a small hole and place a seed, then cover with soil and pat down about as hard as you would rub your eye.
If you plant seedlings, plant them 8-10 inches apart at the same soil level they were in the original container.
Kohlrabi plant season
Kohlrabi grows in cool weather. Plant seeds about 8-10 weeks before your last frost date. Plant seedlings out in Oklahoma in mid-April or around your last frost date. A mild freeze won’t hurt them.
You can plant seeds in succession for kohlrabi and get several harvests. Once you pick it, kohlrabi will keep in the fridge for 2-3 weeks. I can’t wait until you taste it. It’s so good!
How many kohlrabi per plant
Each kohlrabi plant grows one kohlrabi. It doesn’t grow back after you pull it. When harvesting, you pull the entire bulb, cut off the root and use the greens and bulb raw or cooked.
Click here to see what we are growing in our preschool garden. It’s tons of fun.
Share in the comments what you are growing in your garden and if you have heard of kohlrabi before now?
Need help getting started in your garden? Click this link for an introduction to gardening video.
How to grow:
I am growing purple and white this year. Someone gave me a couple of recipes to try and I hear the taste is fantastic. Kohlrabi is a great root crop that is loaded with vitamin C.
It’s one of my faves! We grew purple our first year and have only grown white since then, they are both delish. 🙂 I hope you enjoy it and thanks for the comment and for reading.