Allotments 4 All

Hello again all - 1st post this year for me (too much work and not enough lottie....) - anyway.....  last year had loads and loads of yummy parsnips right through till April and d**n fine they were too! This year, zilch, nicht, zero, nuffin..... dunno what went wrong, been in the ground about 7 weeks and nothing coming up (bar a great crop of weeds along the sowing line!) - am i too late to plant another couple of rows, maybe in a compost (2" deep) trench to give the little dears a good warm and stone free start?

I've just sown my last.

I have no claims to great knowledge or expertise, but I plan to pop a row of parsnips (along with a row each of beetroot and carrots) in the ground my first early spuds are going to vacate in a couple of weeks' time.
It might work, :D or it might not.  :'(
Fear not, give it a go, what have you got to lose? 8)

Could be wrong (?) but I thought it was best to sow parsnips later than earlier, less chance of developing canker. That's it, advice given!! Good luck. Lottie

My first 2 sowings came to nothing, my last 2 rows, sown in a shallow watered drill then covered lightly in potting compost, too about 4 weeks, but are through and on their second true leaves!  I am also planning to do some more when the spuds come up as I don't want huge 'snips.  Still time to sow!  ;D

goodie - thought we were too late but looks like its worth a go  :)

Next week I will start to dig up my earlies and sure I am sowing another row of parsnips. My first 3 rows are doing fine.  ;D .There are no problems with sowing now.

I sowed some parnsips in late June last year and they were certainly reasonably presentable by December, certainly slimmer than earlier sown parsnips, but OK nonetheless. I think that with global warming and so on, growing periods aren't quite so clearly defined anymore. But it's always worth having a go anyway. Conventional wisdom also has it that you can't transplant snips, but providing you lift them with plenty of soil around them by watering them first and then cutting a block carefully round and under the seedlings, and then slotting them into a pre-dug hole of a similar size, it works well, just as long as you don't disturb the root hairs ... :D

Think I'll try another row too then

I sowed some a couple of weeks ago and lo and behold I now have seedlings.

;D ;D

Have to keep remembering to water though - it's a dry as the proverbial at the moment!

moonbells

Don't water them too much, got to get those roots searching downwards

Quote from: Merry Tiller on June 12, 2005, 00:15:56
Don't water them too much, got to get those roots searching downwards

Trouble is that doesn't help when you've got soil that isn't merely well-drained but positively duck's back-like! (thin and chalky).

In this weather it's either like dry sand or concrete, depending on when you last hoed it.  Sarah-b will back me up here!

moonbells

 :( :( :(

Quote from: Merry Tiller on June 12, 2005, 00:27:00
:( :( :(

hey, if it was all easy it'd be boring ! :)

moonbells (who spent a lot of today shovelling manure mulch onto the squashes and sweetcorn)

yes MB - totally dry and cracking as we speak. have been watering quite a bit. Have only got a few parsnips germinated - but after reading this thread, i think I may still re-sow...

sb