Topic: what do parsnip leaves look like?

[aquilegia]

(yes - me again - another question - I just spent so much time in the garden yesterday that a lot of things came up which I keep re-remembering now!)

Anyway - I'm trying not to get too excited...

Do parsnip leaves look anything vaguely like stinging nettles?

Something like that is growing where I sowed some parsnip seeds (in a pot). And it occurred to me that I have never seen a parsnip with leaves on. I've tried doing an internet search, but came up with a lot of parsnip recipes, which, while tasty sounding, do not answer my question!

There is an obvious way I could find out if they are stinging nettles, but until I find a willing victim...

[Multiveg]

aqui - I will go out and take pictures for you :)

[aquilegia]

aww - thanks MV - you're a star!

[Multiveg]

done - got some Arrow growing in pots....

[aquilegia]

Cor - that was quick MV.

I'm trying not to get too excited - but I think it might actually be a parsnip I have growing in that pot. (Just one out of a packet of 200 I sowed in various places.) I wish mine had germinated like yours.

I shall dare to do the touch test tonight, but have a dock leaf to hand just in case!

[Multiveg]

Also got parsnips down the allotment. Arrow, in the pots germinated in about a fortnight. The ones down the plot (gladiator) I think took slightly longer - though before the radishes (used as row markers) were pulled.

[aquilegia]

I sowed mine months ago. I think it was early April. I shall give it another go next year as 'snips are my favourites!

[piglit]

Is there any reason why I can't sow parsnips now?? I know that the seeds don't last and I haven't managed to get any in so had sort of given up but thinking about it, given that they sit around for a long time, is it worth a shot?? I don't mind having small parsnips!

[Multiveg]

I would give em a go, piglit. Some varieties can be sown as late as July (though these are smaller ones).

I forgot to say that last year, my husband did a load of weeding (mainly for docks) and weeded all but one parsnip in a 4ft-ish double row.

[Lavender]

This is probably a stupid question - but then I ask so many of them I've become quite blase to the looks and replies I get  ;)  Why are you growing parsnips in pots?  Are you going to plant them out?  Only I had an idea to do that but someone said root veg don't like being transplanted.  Am I missing out?  Another stupid one on smae theme - I sowed parsnip and carrot ages ago (beg. march I think).  Weeks passed, nowt happened.  Gave up and thought I'd use the patch for something else.  Decided to throw a pile of manure on the ground and rotovate it in.  Before I got that far, lo and behold there's a few parsnips and carrots coming up.  Never got round to digging in the manure, which is now sat on top like rocks, but the plants seem to be thriving.  I'd really like them to grow elsewhere - should I leave them or would they shift?

[Mrs Ava]

Sow 'em Piglit!  I have and so what if we have to pick 'em small, baby veg is just sooooooooooooo trendy like!  ;)

[gavin]

And for Lavender - personally, I'd leave your parsnips where they are if you want parsnips at all.

I've never done it, but I know people who have managed to transplant parsnips - but that's been from deep pots or root-trainers, which protect the hair-roots a bit.

All best - Gavin

[Multiveg]

The Arrow variety of Parsnips I have are mini-veg ones - hubby sowed some of them in the allotment but they still haven't germinated, but the ones I have in the pot have obviously germinated. The pot they are in is a 3 litre size one.

[aquilegia]

 :-[ :-[ :-[

Ok - so I am officially an idiot.

I did the touch test on my 'parsnip' to see if it was a parsnip or a stinging nettle. Any sensible human being might err on the side of caution and touch it with a non-vital piece of skin, such as the elbow. But oh no. Fully confident/hopeful that it was a parsnip I grasp a leaf between my right thumb and forefinger. Because it didn't hurt, I then grabbed it with the left thumb and forefinger. Now I'm nursing two sore thumbs and two sore fingers.

I hereby resign from my honourary position as gardener.  :-\

[Mrs Ava]

You are not an idiot, a plonk that made me laugh, yes, but not an idiot!  Next year, buy some fresh seed and try try again.  I think I was just lucky this year as the seed was a couple of years old, and I don't normally have much success sowing direct, but up they came!  Maybe you should try the mini veg ones and grow them in a large pot?  Parnsips may have failed, but you will have a bumper crop of other things!  ;D

[aquilegia]

thanks Emma! I'm finding it rather funny now.

Will definitely try mini veg next year. I'd try some now after what you'd said earlier, but I've run out of pots, compost and space to put them (the paths in the garden are getting narrower and narrower!)

[gilgamesh]

I've been given a packet of Hamburg Parsley seed (says plant up to end of May, and use by Dec 2004), so I'm planning to plant that this weekend - not much point in keeping it, and seasons do seem to be longer than in the past, so I'm relaxed about them going in a couple of weeks late.

[ALAN HOWELL]

Well worth using primed Parsnip seed from here http://www.dobies.co.uk/

I haven't had a failure since using these........Alan

[Lavender]

And for Lavender - personally, I'd leave your parsnips where they are if you want parsnips at all.

I've never done it, but I know people who have managed to transplant parsnips - but that's been from deep pots or root-trainers, which protect the hair-roots a bit.

All best - Gavin

thanks Gavin - that was my instinct.  Only prob now is I've got a fair sized path with only a few potential parsnips & carrots and a pile of well-rotted but well-hardened manure on top!  Any suggestions for the rest of the space?

[Doris_Pinks]

How about some squash or courgettes Lavender?