Allotments 4 All

I read somewhere that you have to prepare the seeds before planting them out, can anyone give any advise on thi splease

Hi Caseylee,

Im sorry I dont know how to put the link up for you. All the info you need hopefully is on page 2 of 'Edible Plants'.........under the heading 'Parsnip Challenge'

whilst on the subject of parsnips I have prepared a raised patch for mine this year but it had little or no fertaliser last year.( I don't intend to sow till late as I have had trouble getting them to germinate in the past so I'm going to wait till its warmer).my question is will the soil be ok as it is or would you add something like growmore to nourish the soil  ??? ???

brilliant thank you

Could I just ask a question re parsnips?

For years we have been growing carrots in tubs, etc.  We wondered if it would be possible to do the same with parsnips?  I read somewhere recently to grow them in loo roll tubes.  Any suggestions please.

valmarg

I forgot to ask that you just reminded me. I make newspaper pots and I was wondering can I make them that shape and use them for my parsnips and carrots, and when I plant them out just untwist the bottom of the pot before I put them in the ground

I must say I love parsnips so grow quite a few. In terms of ground that has had no manure in the previous year - if you have good basic fertility in the soil I would let it be. However if on a light sandy soil, which I grew my parsnips on this last year I added a very sparse sprinkling of chicken manure pellets - and i mean sparse. I have had the odd root (probably every fifth one dug) which has forked at about 5 inches down - but I think this may be hitting a stone rather than over fertilizing. I am sure someone knows better than me.

I haven't grown parsnips in a tub yet - but do grow stump rooted carrots in tubs. There are varieties of parsnips that you can pull as baby vegetables - perhaps one of these (lancer or countess) would suit container growing. As with all container growing I think success lies in the variety grown.

thanks suzanne :)

I fill toilet roll tubes with fresh multi-purpose compost and plant the seed in them. When the root reaches the bottom of the toilet roll, plant the whole tube outside in rows in situ where you want them to grow. The cardboard will decompose.
Last year I had almost 100% germination and harvested crop.

unfortunatley we don't go through to many loo rolls at home ( house of boys) and I have asked family to keep them for me,but I have made a lot of newspaper pots using the loo rolls as the model.  I have twisted the bottom as you do, can I plant the parsnips in this and when they are ready to plant out just undo the bottom of the paper pot and plant, or would this not work.
Also do I need to soak the seeds prior to planting

Yes it would work the plants will get to 2-3cm high when the roots reach the bottom. Also - I never germinated any of my seeds.

Thats excellant I have never grown them before so will def try it that way, thank you for all the suggestions

Found this. Thought this may be of interest.

http://www.gardenaction.co.uk/fruit_veg_diary/parsnip_1.asp

Caseylee maybe a few currys might liven them up into using more toilet rolls.   :o   :P      ;D ;D ;D

that sounds very tempting but I think my 4 year old would refuse lol

Just planted up 30 toilet roll tubes of Gladiator today.

I have 70+ rolls planted up with pre-chitted 'Tender & True' in trays in the greenhouse. Not all loo rolls, some are kitchen rolls cut in half.

Weed-Digga

Hi Dave,

There is a fairly simple way of finding ones that are going to germinate which I use happily every year.  If you get a supermarket see through cake dish thingy with lid! then put a damp piece of kitchen roll in and put seeds on top of that and keep them on window sill and make sure they stay moist.  You will see after a week or so the ones that sprout and then I put them straight in the soil at the required spacing and voila!

Good luck whichever method you try!

Old Bird

;D

I won't be sowing any parsnips until April.  Never do and never moan about lack of germination and I get good sized parsnips when Autumn and Winter arrive.  My only problem is that I have quite stoney soil so I get some odd shapes - but I ain't filling over a 100 holes with compost.

My first year I sowed straight in the ground and had some great results, other lotties were telling me that they never get results with parsnips so there was me in my first year and blagging it really and finding myself giving them away to other lotties, but it held me in good stead in the next year or so, with free seeds and plants and one fellow planting me a fig tree. The second year I prechitted and straight sowed and none of the prechitted grew at all so I resowed so there was no problem. Don't rush to get them in as Redclanger said April is fine, don't forget they are in the ground for about 7 months.  ;D ;D ;D