Topic: Final day on the plot of the year.

[PJW_Letchworth]

Well, I spent an enjoyable few hours on the allotment today.  I spent the time rough digging two of the beds, removing the stones that resemble small boulders and having a general tidy up.  Hopefullly the frosts wil breakdown the clods of soil I left and will the grass I dug in.  If not it will be much easier to dig in the new year when I'm preparing the beds for the new crops.

Incidentially, all my parsnips (apart from two) forked and had multiple roots.  I haven't manured the bed in over three years and I don't think I put any fish, blood and bone on it either.  The bed had kale in it last year so was not fed then.  Anything I can do to stop this as the parsnips taste lovely.

Happy New Year to everyone and here's wishing you a prosperous and successful growing year.

[saddad]

My parsnips did the same, but that was because I didn't transplant them soon enough...  :-[

[PJW_Letchworth]

Perhaps that's why.  I never seem to get good germination on the plot so I start them off in trays.  I did wonder if the root would get a little constricted so I have bought root trainers for this year, I can say that now!

[saddad]

I use root trainers but there is still a very narrow window between germination and too late  :-X

[ACE]

Oh well! I had better let you know how to do it properly,

toilet roll/ kitchen roll dampen then place seeds  one by one on the paper lay in a tray in the airing cupboard or anywhere dark and warm.
hoe out your trench when the weather is warm. cut with scissors around any hairy seed and place in trench. don't tear or dig silly deep holes. just follow what I say. make sure you can hoe between plants. You will get a 15 to 20 good parsnips from a packet of seed.  (one row). I defy anybody to eat more than that.

[saddad]

I'll try anything once ACE  :-*

[PJW_Letchworth]

If I could grow that many parsnips then I'd love to try!

[caroline7758]

Do you give us our mony back if it doesn't work, Ace? ;D

[organicandy]

Thats interesting advise ACE, could do with you in west yorkshire m8, theres no one can grow parsnips or carrots on our gardens and some of them have 30 odd years under their belts, ill be trying your advice m8 and look forward to success at last,

[Tulipa]

I'll second Ace's advice there, I have tried lots of different ways of sowing parsnips and the way that has worked best for me is the pre-germination on paper towel and then planting straight out as soon as they germinate with as little disruption to the root as possible.  I have tried the making holes and filling with compost etc but they didn't stay moist enough and the seeds just dried out.

Good luck

T.

[Plot69]

I Love parsnips... Some people sniff glue, I could sit and sniff a parsnip all day.

The old boy next to me has lovely parsnips so I asked how he grew them. He said "I just scrape a drill through the frost in February and drop the seeds in".

So last February I followed his advice. I've had parsnips with every roast dinner since and still got enough to last until next Christmas. Some have forked but the vast majority are perfectly parsnip shaped.

I read in a post somewhere about Fenland soil, I'm on lovely dark crumbly Fenland soil so maybe that helps.

[Duke Ellington]

I Love parsnips... Some people sniff glue, I could sit and sniff a parsnip all day.

*kinky little devil*  :P
Seriously though....I had what you might call parsnip disaster last year! All of mine where about 1 inch long with loads of little hairy roots. There was no manure in the area and the soil had been sifted!! I week ago I went down to the allotment and noticed there was one parsnip left. I put my fork in and out came one long perfect parsnip!! I was so pleased and proud of it!! ;D Its gives me hope for next year!!

Duke

[Plot69]

I put my fork in and out came one long perfect parsnip!! I was so pleased and proud of it!! ;D Its gives me hope for next year!!

It's great isn't it! Now if only I could grow Swede as good as my parsnips my life would be complete.

They all shriveled and split.