Tips for growing Parsnips

Yes, I should have done that .... got used to Bone Dry Springs the last couple of years, plus the Water Company imposing a hosepipe ban - I assumed that they knew that dry weather was coming. Silly me, its obviously like washing you car - bound to make it rain continuously!

 

I left one one tube of mine to see how long it took for the root to show at the bottom, and it was 5 days. Hopefully it wont be wasted because I chose a tube with three plants in for my test and pulled out the biggest two seedlings, assuming that they would have the longest roots.

 

An update + a big thanks to Freddy for posting the toilet roll tube method of sowing parsnips which has been a resounding success, no gaps, no thinning, less seeds required and hopefully a much better crop from my cold, wet, clay soil. I've had a bit of a poke around down below and it looks like a good crop.

As I've had complete failure of my potato crop this year (90% rotted in the ground and those that grew got destroyed by blight), I'll be planting out a big bed parsnips next year, all of which will be planted using this method, and I'll also be trying to get some in a bitb earlier.

 

Be interesting to compare how many, if any, you have with forked roots. As mentioned earlier in the thread I favour newspaper "pots" as they are taller than loo rolls, so provide a bit more time before the tap root is wandering out of the bottom.

 

I Pre-germinated my parsnips in a tupperware box on wet kitchen towel, all planted out have grown well and to date, None have forked but I put that down to the fact they were planted out into a non fertilised bed along with carrots which haven't forked either!

 

Yes, that's what I'm also wondering, but with frosts forecast for this weekend it wont be long before I dig the first few up.

Next Spring I'll get my crowbar out and create some deep, sieved soil filled holes and checkout whether toilet roll sown seeds grow better in those than in trowel dug holes.

 

I use a bulb planter (the sort that you can jump on with both feet, rather than a feeble hand-powered one). Makes a hole a bit wider than loo-roll / 9cm pot - and I just water them in, like dibbing in Leeks, so that enough soil runs down around the rootball.

 

I've got a couple of those tools and have found they compress the soil underneath, not a problem if using for planting seed potatoes, but I believe they're less than suitable to form holes in heavy, clay soil for a crop where a root is supposed to penetrate the compressed area beneath.

I only use them for planting seed spuds.

 

Don't think mine compresses - its a "tube" so removes a core, rather than compressing - or have I misunderstood?

This is mine:

 

Last year i did the 'sieved soil/crow bar' method and direct sowed i had a decent crop...did the same this year but alot failed to germinate...still have a few on the go but the weather hasn't helped...

 

Tryed all ways of planting, put waste of time has they all failed dew to weather i hope, well you do have to blame something
but i had the best crop of spuds ever

 

FWIW I've never had a problem since I started growing them in newspaper pots (loo rolls would be the same). More faff to start them off, but I get evenly spaced plants with no gaps / losses. I can use (relatively) old seed too.

 

I will having another go next year, hope for better weather
also runner beans were a pane this year as well

 

Reading these tips, I reckon it's time to start saving up loo-rolls!