perfect parsnips
A story needs a happy ending.
And my search
for perfect parsnips has reached that point.
You may remember that I was struggling to get my favourite vegetable to germinate. Parsnips take an age to germinate and this leaves them vulnerable to fluctuations in soil temperature and soil water content.
Having decided to give up, my neighbouring allotment holder Ken, showed me how he germinated his parsnips in cylinders of paper. When the baby plants were strong, he planted them out into the soil by simply dibbering a hole and dropping the paper cylinder and its contents into the dibber hole. The baby plants need no thinning and can then grow on undisturbed until harvest.
This year - hey presto! - a bed full of parsnips and we're still lifting them in January!
5 comments:
Those are some nice looking parsnips. I've never grown them before but often hear from others how hard they are to germinate.
Daphne
Perhaps this was a good year anyway.... but we've never had better parsnips so will certainly be trying Ken's method again next year.
Rob
Oooh, how exciting!
I had someone ask about growing parsnips last week, and was able to suggest that I had a gardening blogger friend in England (that's you) who had a excellent 'babying' method that might be worth a try.
Actually, I think your climate is a lot better for parsnips than ours, but I'm going to try again (I had great germination, followed by blastingly hot weather).
How big are your Parsnip Cylinders? Just large enough to hold the seed and a bit of soil? Or closer to a small pot?
I am planting parsnips for the first time this year and the advice I have received vacillates between "They're the easiest root I've ever grown." to "I'm haven't tried for years because they never turn out right." I don't want to be frustrated before they ever make it into the ground.
Scott - I used a brush stave and made a cylinder of newspaper around it before filling with potting compost. Cylinder about 3 inches long
See http://sustainablegarden.blogspot.com/2008/05/perfect-parsnips.html
for illustration.
Rob
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