self sown parsnips

Parsnips have a reputation. Awkward. Stubborn. Cussed even, when it comes to germination.
We now use Ken's method of raising the seedlings in cardboard tubes and then planting these into the vegetable bed to grow on to mature plants for harvesting from early autumn.


But hang on, what's this?


We let our parsnips run on to flower magnificently in the summer and they produced a mass of seeds which we collected for sowing next spring.

But they also shed their gorgeous golden seed discs onto the soil and we now have an embarrassment of parsnip seedlings, scorning all the efforts we have made in the past to cosset and encourage. They have fought off the challenge of the recently sown overwintering grazing rye and are beginning to bully the borage.

So now, we have an experiment... We'll see whether these little seedlings get through a cold winter and whether they go onto produce tasty long, creamy conical roots.

If they do, we will have saved ourselves a lot of time and effort in future and will collect seed and then scatter it in the autumn.

parsnip seed

What a mixed up year!


I handed my keys over to the new headteacher on Wednesday morning - and thick throated - walked out of school for the last time.

Where did eighteen years go?

New opportunities will surely open up.

So looking for symbolism focused on the amazing heads of the architectural parsnip that escaped to seed when we weren't looking.

parsnip tubes

Notoriously fickle - that's parsnip germination!

You can only use new seed. The seeds spend so long in the soil that you can grow radishes to maturity between the rows before the parsnip cotyledons are seen. And if it is too wet, or too dry they won't germinate. Too hot - or cold. Then there is the possibility of pest damage.

We now germinate our young parsnips in paper cylinders in the greenhouse. We can control moisture levels, temperature variation, and keep a general eye out for them in the weeks they take to show.

Then, when they have little leaves showing strongly we plant them out in dibber holes in the soil.

The system has proved so reliable that we now have a parsnip glut and we are having to resort to making parsnip wine! Desperate measures indeed!

I sprinkle three seeds into each tube and then top with peat free potting compost. Watch this space.

perfect parsnip

I have written about the method I use to grow baby parsnips to avoid the problems that come with their long slow germination.

Parsnip seeds are sown into newspaper cylinders of peat free compost and watered. When the young plants are showing two strong leaves, they are dropped into planting holes in their tubes. The newspaper melts away as the young plants grow over the spring and summer.

This year, I did not 'thin out' each tube to leave one strong plant but left each with three or four little plants. I was concerned that this could lead to too many small plants but on first inspection this is not the case.

Here, after a wet summer is the product. 6 inches in diameter (15cm) and 18 inches long (45cm), with good flavour.

parsnips

Followers of this blog may recall the problems that I had in getting parsnips to germinate reliably. Or at all.

So, I moved to a new method last year and have built the new method into my plan.

Here, I have made newspaper cylinders that are around three inches or 10 cms tall. I have secured the cylinders with tape and then filled with potting compost.

24 fit tightly into an old plastic ice cream tub.

Three parsnip seeds are then placed at the top of each tube and a little more compost added before they are watered.

A sheet of newspaper covers each of the tubs which will stand in the greenhouse until the plants germinate.

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!

..... a happy ending

You may recall the problems I had with germinating parsnips. You may recall too, 'Ken's Way' of bringing parsnips on in newspaper tubes.
Well, here we have a parsnip grown 'Ken's way' in September: and mighty pleased I am with it.
It is long, straight and blemish free.
This is what it looked like when I heaved it from the ground. The photo I took after I had stuck it under the tap was spoiled because the parsnip was so white!

perfect parsnips?

Getting temperamental parsnips to germinate was a problem: until I learned of a different method.

This year, our parsnip seeds were sown into cylinders of newspaper that had been filled with compost. The seed took four weeks to germinate.

Once germinated and getting along well, the cylinders and their infant contents were dibbered into the soil.

Several seeds had been dropped into the top of each cylinder. These were thinned to the strongest seedling once in the soil.

There's a long way to go before they're steaming on the Christmas dinner plate, but I have to say that I'm encouraged.

I have a bed of baby parsnips to be proud of.

perfect parsnips? 3

Okay, it's not the most-inspiring photo you've ever seen. But this captures the next part of the 'perfect parsnip' story. Last year we had no luck with parsnips and had decided not to bother with them this year. that was until Ken told me of his method.
Well, here are the little beauties, planted out in their bed. I dibbered down as far as I could but still the cylinders were too long. So we tore off the bottom 5cm (2in) and then they fitted. The newspaper cylinders will away.
The spacing is quite generous at 20cm (8in) - but I'm going for some monsters this time.
So far, so good.

As a footnote, I understand that Ken has not had the same luck with his parsnips this year - showing that no method is foolproof!

perfect parsnips?

Prima donnas of the root bed, parsnips will only perform if their temperament allows.

This method of bringing parsnip seedlings on in rolled tubes of newspaper packed with potting compost was suggested by allotment gardener Ken.

The seedlings are getting a little leggy now, so I will dibber each cylinder into the ground and then thin the seedlings to one strong plant.

The newspaper will breakdown in the soil and we should have big strong parsnips to look forward to this winter!

perfect parsnips?

Parsnips are one of the great English vegetables. And notoriously temperamental to grow. The terrible growing conditions of 2007 meant that we haven't had any of our own in over a year.

Why the difficulty?

First, they take an age to germinate: six weeks!
Because of this lengthy germination, there are many variables that can affect their viability - particularly drought or waterlogging.
And they are pretty specific about their temperature needs too and so the wide fluctuations we can have in spring from below zero to double figures Celsius compound the difficulties. Then , of course, there are pests!

So, having had some very poor results with parsnips, they were not included in our planting plan this year.

Until I spoke to Ken.

Ken is a fellow allotment holder and he uses a different method than any I have read about for germinating parsnips. The common method is to sow into a drill in well prepared soil in the spring. The parsnips are then 'thinned' and allowed to grow on throughout the summer and autumn until they have been frosted. This frosting improves their flavour and they are lifted and eaten from November to May.

I was asking Ken how he did with parsnips. He explained that he sows his parsnips into newspaper cylinders made by wrapping newspaper around a brush stave. The cylinders are secured with tape and then filled with compost. Four or so seeds are then sown into the top of each cylinder. The seeds are covered with a little compost and the cylinders are kept watered in plastic boxes in the unheated greenhouse until germination. Only the strongest plant in each cylinder is allowed to grow on. Once the little plants have established themselves, the cardboard cylinders are dibbered into the bed that will be their home until harvesting.

This method avoids the difficulty of disturbing the long root of the parsnip and allows us to more closely monitor temperature and moisture levels during germination.

Last year Ken planted fifty cylinders and forty eight went onto maturity. Forty eight!!!!!

I'm trying it this year.

free gift with every plant!

Leeks are one of the most versatile members of the onion family. Sweet and tender, they are one of the easiest plants to grow.

I've inset into the photo a mature leek and its little free gift. Many leeks have these examples of vegetative reproduction growing as offsets. I lifted lots of leeks today to prepare the ground for potatoes and so dibbered the offsets into holes and watered them in, in the traditional way with leeks.

It will be several weeks before we have this years baby leeks sown from seed ready for planting out. So, the offsets are a real bonus and may bring an unplanned harvest in. It will be interesting to see if I really do get a free extra crop.

Know your onions

Our wet conditions have finished the summer onions very early. They have not had the necessary time baking in the sun to ensure good storage through to March.
Urgent action was needed as the onions sat in soggy ground, prey to rots and slugs.
I lifted all of the onions and am placing them outside on the warm patio on any dry day we get: two this week!
For all that they've finished three weeks to a month early, the constant rain certainly bulked them up. The heaviest weighs in at 12 ozs with the average weight being a much more useful 6 ozs.
Now it's time for patience as the drying process can't be hurried and will only be complete when the stalks are golden and crispy. At this point, their stems will not bruise and allow rots in when being strung.
Onions on strings store better than storage in nets because there is better circulation of air around each bulb. I will show the technique on a post soon.