Parsnips

[laurieuk]

Sorry but you have misunderstood my original point. The word compost is used for two completely different things, as you say it can be rotted vegetation but the word is used also to describe peat or soil based potting  material. We used the potting material to put in the holes for parsnips but some people grow them in pure sand with liquid feed.

Compost   (rotted veg.etc.)  will cause root vegetables like carrot or parsnips to grow forked rather than a good single root. You could use compost such as JI 3 , peat based or peat free as this is well mixed and generally will not cause forked roots.  It really is confusing that we use the same word for such different things.
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Laurie, ALL compost is decomposed vegetation. Manure, as has been said, is what causes forking. As does stony ground.

[laurieuk]

[Tee Gee]

It really is confusing that we use the same word for such different things.

Yes I agree!

Another anomaly I often see is;

Planting seeds as opposed to sowing seeds.

I was always taught that you sow seeds and plant plants

But that again is the one of the reasons that the English language is difficult to understand.