[lesley1322]

my sister decided to tell me today she had bought me a packet of parsnip seeds and is desperate for me to grow them as we dont buy them as shes the only one who likes them... the seed packet says sow from feb-april... am i too late to sow them now?? I've never tried these before but i have heard they can be a nightmare to germinate.

[Adrian]

I'd say yes and no! Officially you are too late, but you should be OK to get something out of them sown now - perhaps they won't be terribly big, but there's no harm trying. After all, since everything is a bit late this spring, you're only a little bit late.

Germination an be a bit difficult, but often that's because they are sown too early when things are too cold and wet, even for parsnips. One golden rule seems to be always to use fresh seed for parsnips each year.

Cheers,

Adrian

[RichardA]

my main sowings in March and April are now all well up after a slow start but I did suspect there would be gaps in rows so I started some more seeds off  just recently in modules as  a back up to fill gaps and they have just come through. In the event gaps were not significant across six long rows so I will not need the extra ones.
They do not always transplant well so it is just an experiment on my part in any case. Parsnips stand well into the winter and are better after a good frosting in any case and even if small then parsnips can still be used in many ways so for the sake of a packet why not give it a go. What finishes off parsnips is the warmer weather coming in the next spring when they try to grow again and it is never the cold weather so getting an early crop is not an issue really.
Really important to remember of all the seeds we use parsnips keep the very worse so using even one year old seed is usually a waste of time leading to very poor if any germination. Lets us know how you get on.
Best of luck
R

[lesley1322]

thank you both for your replies, i have sown a row today so i'm keeping my fingers crossed that they grow ok.

[Paul Plots]

I might give up looking at the packet and put in a sprinkling too... after all my parsnip so rarely come up I can't possibly lose anything - I can always keep the front of the packet to gaze at whistfully