Tips for growing Parsnips

Does any one have any good tips for growing Parsnips
don't have much luck growing them

 

Hi Jiffy,

They are a bit erratic in germinating & they don't like being transplanted.

If you can get some wallpaper paste without fungicide then you can make up a paste to put them in, keep them moist while germinating.

They need a fine soil that hasn't been manured this season, manure makes the roots fork.

Some folk grow them in oil drums filled with compost. I've grown them sucessfully in clay drainage pipes filled with sieved compost.

 

I'll maybe let you know tomorrow, I'll be digging out a few for xmas lunch, I hope!

Either out of the garden or I go without, I do have some nice "brussels" though :D

 

Thank you both

I think i must get the soil finner then, this year 4" at the top and looks like a turnip with forked roots, and i did put compost and sand to break up the soil more last winter

 

If you can get hold of a Shove Holer you could dig a hole & then fill that with sieved soil/compost. The tap root will have a better chance then.

 

sorry what's a shove holer ,

 

Lawnswood Fencing Products

Wicks do them for about £16

Used for digging fencepost holes. I've underpinned entire buildings with them.

 

One of them didn't know what they were called

thankyou very much

 

No worries, I only knew the name from the BTCV books.

 

I call them a pole hole digger ,

allways learn some thing new every day

 

I dibble holes about 12" to 14" deep with an old wooden spade handle and then fill with a mixture of old growbag compost and riddled garden soil. I sow about 4 seeds to each hole and thin when germinated. It usually works fine and I get nice straight parsnips. Some years I do get the odd forked one but this mainly happens when we have one or more long dry spells.

 

If you just want normal parsnips you dont need to do much more than dig the ground throughly and add a bit of general fertiliser.

A bit of sand worked into the top couple of inches helps on clayey soil.

Then sow, not as early as most seed packets state, I'd say Mid to late March once you see a bit of weed germinating taking place.

Sow thinly but be prepared to thin the plants out well once they are three inches high.

 

I did the compost trick this and got some really straight and long parsnips if i recall correctly my biggest one was approx 3.5in at the crown and about 2ft long. I was at my local independent garden center when an old boy over heard i was growing them and told me to get a metal pole and hammer in about 1 and half to 2 ft fill with compost compacting every few inches place four seeds at the top lightly sprinkle compost on top and water. The other tip was not to water them to much as you want to encourage the tap root to search for water, producing nice long and full roots. Will be growing this year as they like my soil better than carrots so guess wot'll be on the dinner table next christmas.

 

Thankyou all for your comments

 

Just back from the garden with parsnips! :D

I pre-germinated the seed on wet kitchen paper towel before planting (very carefully) out. Saved on thinning out. I didn't know what results to expect but fortunately I did get a decent crop albeit varying sizes.