Kitchen Garden Forum

7.30am Saturday 13th

Just what I was hoping would not happen this morning, Drizzle.
Wasted a sunny opportunity yesterday

Feeling disappointed

A quick update on the "Good times ahead" front.

Saw my oncologist on Thursday 11th Feb.
Apart from her giving me a playful slap for winding her up as we entered her consulting room she was very pleased with how things are under the circumstances.
She decided not to see me for 3 months unless it flares up again in the meantime.

So good people, you are stuck with me and my sometimes puerile sense of humour for an unexpected bit longer

Very pleased to hear your good news. We all love your sense of humour and positive approach to everything.

Great news pa snip I'm made up for you

Yay, amazing news pa

Wow Good news Pa Snip! What a very apt title this Chat has turned out to be!

Westi

Dear Pa Snip, i was in need of some good news and i have to say, it doesn't get a lot better than that....i'm so pleased for you and all concerned.

And your humour gives everyone a lift....

Pa snip - amazing news. Yay!!! I will be asking many more silly questions in the months to come!

Now, back to business, if I might ask, how to grow pa snips? I've tried for a few years. From the surface they great. You dig them up and there's a weird parsnip at the top with nothing else.... Anyone else experiencing this??

Pawty!

Story of my life! My neighbours neglected plot has had better parsnips than I have ever gown! I haven't a clue how. I have harvested a few from over the fence & they are lovely. (Empty plot now btw). They have seeded in my plot as well but all small & useless.

Soil? Are we treating them too well? Looking forward to answers!

Westi

In my experience, parsnips grow best in a light sandy or peaty soil with no stones and little evidence of manure. If you soil is not like this then you can sieve some light soil into a hole made by a crowbar and sow the seeds. Even if they are all twisted and tangled they still taste good after a frost.

I've got quite heavy soil and have had the best results growing parsnips by either making a deep hole with a crow bar, filling it with compost and sowing two or three seeds in this and then thinning them to one plant, or the easiest way which I prefer is to grow them in a raised bed with nice light compost. I use pelleted seed now too so I can space them out evenly with no need to thin, and in a raised bed it is easy to net them and avoid the risk of carrot fly attack. I've got a raised bed for the carrots too and following Johnboy's recommendation now use pelleted carrot seeds and always cover them with enviromesh.

Despite my user name my results with parsnips are decidedly mixed.
Over the years the best results I have had have been
when I have sieved the parsnip bed surface well before sowing and the bed has been well dug and prepared to as fine a tilth as possible
when I have NOT sown in a bed that has any traces of fresh manure OR home made compost since a previous type of crop was grown there
when the ground has warmed up well

I have given up sowing parsnip seed in February or March, the germination rate is poor and the growth usually small
I have had best results when keeping the area sown slightly damp on the surface, but NOT wet, until germination

Same applies during growth season, water until moist but not soaking wet, helps avoid canker I find. (Didn't help this Pa Snip avoid it though )

Having said all the above, last year the only results I got from Parsnips was from the few I sowed in early June. The early sowings were about 95% fail to germinate. I attribute this to how wet the ground was

Good luck

BTW, thank you for the good wishes and smiles above.



BTW P.S I now have visions of some being stopped by the police and being charged with "going equipped" because they are carrying a crowbar 'to sow my parsnips with officer'.

A likely story, we will see you on 'The Interceptors' on channel 5 soon

I will no doubt try again. Every year I say I won't. Last year I grew them in seed trays then replanted the four that germinated in to a raised bed. Tasted good, but weren't very pretty.

Because of my inability to grow them we had to buy them for Christmas. They tasted horrible! I can only assume it's because of the warm weather and lack of frosts.

I never try and grow parsnips in trays or pots for transplanting, and it wasn't that many years ago the the TV gardening experts told you quite definitely not to, It was almost guaranteed back then that the result would be forked or misshapen crops.
Same applied with carrots.

Now almost everywhere sells them in trays, great money spinner for the various suppliers