Thinking of growing parsnips inbetween garlic in a raised bed. Is this a good or stupid idea?
You may lower the garlic yeild if the parsnip leaves shade them in mid-summer... or damage the parsnips digging the garlic out... :-X
What will you rotate to?.... normal practice is to group alliums together and the carrot/parsnip/celerica etc family together as soil/fertilizer/pest control methods will be basically the same....
chrisc
It's just a one off. I've moved to a new plot and the area for onions etc isn't dug yet but I've got some more garlic to plant asap and the raised bed I'm going to put the parsnips in just happens to be ready now. I'd sort of thought the garlic would be pretty much fully grown by the time the parsnips got large enough to block the sun from them.
Hmmm I usually sow parsnip in April and pick during winter so by then my garlic would be grown and out of the ground??? I guess as long as they are not too crowded I don't see any reason not to.
As long as the garlic's not shaded before June it should be OK. Once it reaches full size and starts transferring energy into the bulb it doesn't mind competition so much.
Practical point of view - leave enough space to get a hoe between the plants otherwise weeding made difficult.