[Sleepingpopman]

 Hi Everyone  . Wishing you all a belated Merry Christmas & a happy New Year
& thanking all members who have helped me during 2018. I could use your help again.
My veg plot is in the back garden & is only 3m sq, this year I grew Salad Spuds, Cabbage,
Kale, Runner Beans, Parsnips, Carrots, Salad bits  &  in the g/h Toms & Q's .
For the 2nd year I attempted to grow Marion Sweeds in the veg plot but yet again they failed.
I always rotate my crops but my soil is a bit heavy due to clay but it's getting better each year.
All 6 sweeds grew great, plenty of very healthy tops but when I came to lift them all of them
looked more like parsnips & not even big ones & all unusable
Any suggestions would be greatly received as I can't afford the space if there going to fail every
year. Is it the heavy soil making them fail
Keith 

[mumofstig]

I garden on heavy clay, so start mine off in modules at the end of May. When they are big enough to plant out I put a handful lof chicken manure pellets in the hole, and then firm in the plant.
They don't like to dry out either, so be prepared to water them. It is the stems that swell, rather than the roots though.
In such a small area, how close are they to other plants? I find they need about 12ins between plants and between rows, any closer and they struggle.

[Sleepingpopman]

Hi.   I do pretty much the same as you apart from the chicken pellets but
about a week before planting out I scatter growmore & give the soil a tickle
with a fork. I plant out 12" apart & I was watering early morning or late evening
sometimes even both & as I said the tops were brill', I also had a very fine net
over them.
Thanks again for your comment. 
Keith.

[greenjay]

I find swedes difficult. a lot of it is about timing not too early/late.
this is one crop which farmers seem to have mastered. you see a field full of them for them to feed the sheep.
12 inches apart I definitely squeeze mine a lot closer so I am definitely going wrong there!

[Mr Dog]

I usually plant out about 18 using pretty much MoS's method, and find, almost invariably, that a few just don't swell despite being treated the same as the others.