Hiyah PETUNIA-- I sowed mine in april, I believe. They are notoriously difficult to germinate and take a few weeks even at the best of times. Parsnips do bets when sown directly into the ground, as they definately do not like having their roots disturbed. Your grouind should be double dug and made loose and free-draining. The uppermost part of your topsoil needs to be worked to a fine tilth for planting. I make a shallow furrow in this fine soil then plant three seeds together about a foot apart. Cover and lightly tamp down and wait. Some years my germination rate was so bad that I germinated them in wet paper towels and as soon as they had a miniscule root tip peeking through the seed casing, I planted them in the ground--root tip down. One does this out of necessity, not as routine. I agree with you that it is a good idea to read-up on parsnips before you start with them. They could challenge you, but when they 'work'--oh boy, is it ever feast-time!
I have never grown rutabega, DAISY. I wonder what the dutch word for that is. I shall have to look that up. ....ah yes, of course--koolraap. I have eaten the leaves of this but never the tuber.
ahha! sjoerd, i am so glad that i am not the only one having trouble germinating parsnips. i tried growing them, and rutabagas, for the first time this year. we had an extremely hot late spring and not one seed germinated....yet...i noticed last week, after some bitter cold weather here, that a couple have just germinated now, many months later???! i'm not sure they'll make it through the frost, tho, to set for winter. i have extra seed and am thinking of sowing it and seeing if it will come up in spring...thinking along the terms of stratification. the paper towel trick sounds like a good idea. i may try that next year. i had bought some at the store in town, and they were delish. i cut of the tops about an inch and am going to put them in the ground to see if they root. we have done that with onions in the garden, and carrots and celery in pots. i'm bound and determined to grow parsnips! i grew turnips for the first time this year, and they grew wonderfully, but went immediately to seed...that's how warm our weather got. some of the seed fell and germinated and we are eating some nice sized turnips from those now. amazing how all this works! the rutabagas did wonderfully. i did not know one could eat the leaves! wonderful! i have to finish digging them up tomorrow. great pics sjoerd! beautiful parsnips, and wonderful carrots. i can totally relate to the pics of the just dug 'unweashed' parsnips!
ahha! sjoerd, i am so glad that i am not the only one having trouble germinating parsnips. i tried growing them, and rutabagas, for the first time this year. we had an extremely hot late spring and not one seed germinated....yet...i noticed last week, after some bitter cold weather here, that a couple have just germinated now, many months later???! i'm not sure they'll make it through the frost, tho, to set for winter. i have extra seed and am thinking of sowing it and seeing if it will come up in spring...thinking along the terms of stratification. the paper towel trick sounds like a good idea. i may try that next year. i had bought some at the store in town, and they were delish. i cut of the tops about an inch and am going to put them in the ground to see if they root. we have done that with onions in the garden, and carrots and celery in pots. i'm bound and determined to grow parsnips! i grew turnips for the first time this year, and they grew wonderfully, but went immediately to seed...that's how warm our weather got. some of the seed fell and germinated and we are eating some nice sized turnips from those now. amazing how all this works! the rutabagas did wonderfully. i did not know one could eat the leaves! wonderful! i have to finish digging them up tomorrow. great pics sjoerd! beautiful parsnips, and wonderful carrots. i can totally relate to the pics of the just dug 'unweashed' parsnips!
Sjoerd, Thank you for this post. I learned a lot.Hope my parsnips are as good as yours. Now I can't wait until frost.
Hiyah Donna--Thanks for liking this posting. I hope that yours will do it well for you. Mine are still quite small so far this season. I hope that they will do some more growing. The root veggies have not one all that well here this year....things like beetroot and Swiss chard just have not performed as well as I would have liked. Anyway, as I said--hope that yours do well. I have my fingers crossed for you.
I had a bumper crop of rutabagas this past spring. Planted again for fall along with turnips, spinach, squash, zuchinni and fall tomatoes. Tomatoes were late so not sure about them. May try parsnips too if I can find seed.
Planting them this late in the year is too late here, but where you live you may be able to get away with it. Good luck finding those seeds, mate.
I can't remember ever tasting parsnip.I must buy some at the grocery store and give them a try.Sjored you always post interesting things.I always look farward to any posts of yours.
