Plant cima di rapa as soon as soil is workable in spring

In 1889, President Benjamin Harrison officially proclaimed Oklahoma open for settlement, and on the appointed date, thousands of settlers lined up around the borders of the Oklahoma District, waiting for the noon opening. However, many people snuck across the border early, getting a jump on those who obeyed the law. These cheaters were called “Sooners.”

We gardeners are all too familiar with wanting to jump the gun and plant seeds. Cima di rapa is one of the first vegetables you can plant in the spring as soon as your soil can be worked.

To see if your soil is ready to plant, take a handful of garden dirt and form a ball, then try to break the soil apart in your hand. If it falls apart easily and crumbles, the garden is dry enough to plant seeds. If the ball stays firm, the soil isn’t ready. 

Cima di rapa (Brassica rapa) translates as “turnip top,” and it is a turnip green that usually forms a small head, even though some varieties are “senza testa,” or without a head. The leaves look just like turnip greens. This is a small plant, only 8 to 10 inches tall. It grows best in light shade, in fertile soil that drains well, and does equally well in summer and fall.

The taste is a nice blend of flavors between broccoli and spinach, with strong undertones of mustard greens. The slightly bitter taste is mellowed by a sweet, almost nutty taste.

Cook the leaves, stems, and sprouts as you would broccoli. Add the young, tender thinnings raw to salads or quickly cooked in stir-fries. This is a very healthy food with high levels of vitamin K, vitamin C, iron, manganese, vitamin E and calcium.

This is one of the most popular vegetables in Italy, especially in southern Italy. The most common varieties are Quarantina, Sessantina and Novantina, or 40, 60 and 90, for the number of days it takes for each variety to mature.

Cima di rapa will not grow well when the soil is too acidic, so if necessary, add lime to your garden soil to bring it to a pH of 6.5-7.5.

Because Cima di rapa plants are such fast growers, give them water on a regular basis, and never let the bed get dry. They grow best in fertile soil, so add compost to the garden before planting. Do not start Cima di rapa indoors, because transplants often bolt and go to seed.

Sow seeds directly in the garden, one inch apart in rows 12 inches apart. The seeds will sprout in as few as three days.

After a week or two, you can thin so plants stand 5 to 6 inches apart. Left crowded, your plants will get weak and spindly as they compete for sunlight and nutrients.

When the first small flower heads form, break them off along with several inches of the tender, stringless stem. Leave the plants undisturbed after picking, and soon you will be rewarded with numerous new side shoots. You can also simply cut the entire plant and cook the leaves along with the heads and stems. Keep them crisp in the refrigerator, unwashed, for up to five days. To store Cima di rapa longer, blanch the plants and then freeze.

Plant Cima di rapa as soon as you can work the earth, and in a few short weeks you will be rewarded with nutritious, tasty greens. You will have jumped the gun on spring and will get your crops out sooner. No Oklahoma Indian Territory required.