Parsnips

[Shallot Man]

Talking to a fellow plot holder and the subject of the erratic growth of parsnip seed came up, this was rather puzzling as we had been discussing the poor showing of England against Wales in the six nations. Well he said he always sowed seed in a 4 inch square, one in each corner, then a pinch of lettuce and so on, he didnt thin out the parsnips as they would push themselves apart, the lettuce would come up quicker thus reminding him of the parsnip row.I think I will give it a go this year, shallotman [74 and still learning]

[oldherbaceous]

Morning Shallot Man, i must say i have never heard of that one before.

I know with a lot of the distances they give for spacings, that they are often over the top, if the soil is in good condition you can still get good veg of a very useable size, onions being another example.

[PLUMPUDDING]

That is a good idea Shallot man, at least you will get a nice row of lettuce if the parsnips don't grow.
I suppose you can bank on not all the parsnip seeds germinating, so they wouldn't be too squashed together, and if they do all grow you will have lots of smaller parsnips which can't be bad.

I have heard of sowing radish as a marker, but lettuce are more useful.

I must say I was a bit confused with the rugby connection when I first read it.

[Shallot Man]

So was I, we were discussing the Rugby, I still don't how we got onto the subject of parsnips. shallotman