hamburg parsley

[blackcountrysteve]

Any of you dudes out there given this a go ?

not seen on your every day plot, read a little about it and thought
id give it a try.
a veg you can eat the tops and the roots

just wondered if anyone had grown it, what they thought

many thanks steve

[saddad]

I tried it once but didn't get any to germinate... 

[Ian Pearson]

I grew it one year. The roots are okay, but only grew to the size of a smallish carrot. The foliage is just like 'plain leaved' parsley. I left some of them over the winter, and they sprouted good foliage early in the spring. Then I pulled them up as they were threatening to go to seed.

It's important to sow direct so that the tap root grows down straight.

I think they may suffer from carrot root fly, but not sure about that.

[blackcountrysteve]

nice one thanks, i'll pop a few rows in with my parsnips and carrots
ive bought a pack of seeds off ebay, 2000 seeds ! far more than i need
so if anyone wants any sending on, i'll gladly do so

[Bugloss2009]

i grew it a few years ago. The roots were like small parsnips, and got a lot of canker, and were quite woody. Never used them. Didn't even taste them, which was silly. Don't think they taste of much parsley though. There wasn't a lot of foliage, so I wouldn't describe them as dual use

[Vinlander]

Hamburg parsley doesn't germinate a lot faster than ordinary parsley - which is slow, slow, slow (yawn) - so make sure you mark the rows by sowing some radish or other fast veg in the same drill.

It also means it can be a bit of a race to get big roots by sowing now.

I find it is even shorter for its width than parsnips (the exponential shape of a decaying clap in an empty room) - so it is possible to sow them in modules as long as you plant them out when the width of the leaves exceeds the depth of the module.

You might get a few forked roots doing this but you're only losing the thin lower bit of the root which isn't really worth worrying about.

Seed sown in warm modules can get going faster - definitely worth doing for a March sowing.

If you like parsnips and parsley you will find the roots are a delicious combination - they are excellent roasted.

The foliage does taste of parsley, but is rather coarse, so it's OK for stews but not much good for salads or stirfries.

I've never found them to have any more pests or diseases or 'woodyness' than parsnips in the same year - probably less.

I'm on heavy moisture-retentive soil - that may be significant since they aren't as deep-rooting as parsnips.

From a March sowing in modules I usually end up with roots about 5-8cm across - probably not much more than half the weight of the same width of parsnip.

Give them a go.

PS. Can't compare them with carrots really - who wants to harvest March-sown carrots in early winter? Much too big, coarse and cracked.

[angle shades]

 this dude recommends it / shades x

[chriscross1966]

nice one thanks, i'll pop a few rows in with my parsnips and carrots
ive bought a pack of seeds off ebay, 2000 seeds ! far more than i need
so if anyone wants any sending on, i'll gladly do so

if you want a similar also whackky relative of it I have some par-cel.... parsley-like plant tastes like cerlery supposedly.....

chrisc

[blackcountrysteve]

nice one thanks, i'll pop a few rows in with my parsnips and carrots
ive bought a pack of seeds off ebay, 2000 seeds ! far more than i need
so if anyone wants any sending on, i'll gladly do so

if you want a similar also whackky relative of it I have some par-cel.... parsley-like plant tastes like cerlery supposedly.....

chrisc

what is it then chrisc ?

[chriscross1966]

According to the packet it's just that... a plant with parsley's basic growth habit but celery's flavour

chrisc

[earlypea]

I think they're gorgeous.  Tried them for the first time last year.  Mine grew sizeable, much larger than a large carrot, but not as big as a 'snip, and not woody at all - the texture was firmer than 'snips and slightly mealy (in a pleasant way) when cooked.  Just loved the flavour.

They are even more erratic than snips with germination and the slugs adored the ones that did so you may end up with less than expected, but still worth it in my opinion.