direct sowing

[jo2]

I have a new plot and it is very weedy, we have dug it over and fetched out every scrap of root we could but the soil is full of weed seed.
I want to grow parsnips but my direct sowing of them has been a disaster!
The weed seedlings have all come up down my carefully watered row of seed and I can't see how I can get them out without yanking up maybe baby parsnips(if they have germinated which I am not sure they have)
How do you direct sow slow stuff when you have weedy soil? would a 2 inch layer of compost along the sowing line work?

[jo2]

[derbex]

It's supposed to help, as your seeds should get a head start over the weeds. I'm not sure about slow germinators like parsnips though.

Another thing you can try is to let the weeds germinate and then flame them off -giving you a stale seedbed- then sow your seeds, the idea being that all the surface weed seeds will have come and gone.

I don't think either of these will be much help with perennials, you'll just need to keep cutting the tops off until you harvest your veg.

Jeremy

[tim]

If weeds are growing, not much wrong with your plot. But they do like newly prepared ground!

But why direct sow?? You've got no space for modules? = Tim

[Multiveg]

When sowing parsnips, between each parsnip seed, sow a radish seed (or lettuce or something that you can use as a marker). Parsnips take ages to germinate, plus the seeds don't last that long, so you should use fresh parsnip seed every year.

[jo2]

Thanks everyone, that has given me some ideas.
To be honest I prefer not to direct sow but I was told parsnips don't transplant so must be sown in situ-and I love parsnips.
I've hoed up the area now as it was a total disaster zone of thousands of baby weedlings but hopefully after a couple of years of care I should get the weed seed population down enough to have another go.  Can only hope! :)

[derbex]

That reminds me, when I sowed mine I sowed 3 at a time under a plastic bottle cloche or in a ring cut from a bottle. The idea is that at least one will come up (I found 2 or all 3 did, just pull the others up) and you can hoe between the cloches. It has worked pretty well, but then so have the ones sown in a row -although they should probably be thinned, baby parsnips for the bbq?

Courtesy Mr. Flowerdew.

Jeremy

[Ed^Chigliak]

I have been using a 2in thin walled plastic pipe (small rainwater downpipe) to remove a plug of soil to create a 'pot' in the ground which I then filling with fresh compost and plant seeds 2-3 per station. Leave atleast the width of your hoe between stations in both directions and you should be able to keep it weed free. To remove the soil plug inside the pipe just tap several times with a trowel. I find this easier and quicker than digging holes and I station plant everything. If the surface of the soild is dry and loose and the hole fills in again when the pipe is pulled out of the ground just brush asside the loose soil around the pipe before pulling it out of the ground.

I start my parsnips in pots and planted them out and they do just fine in so far as they don't all die and at the end of the year I have some oddly shaped organic parsnips if you know what I mean.