[Paul Plots]

I'd definitely go with the "use fresh seed and sow late" brigade, but I actually made an extra row this year from the thinnings and they grew just as well as those sown direct.

That's an idea well worth trying if I can get the things to grow in the first place.... I'll keep that in mind. 

[bigben]

Agree with the fresh seed sown late but did have a bit of success with R's paper pot idea. Got a load to germinate in pots on the windowsil then dug a trough in my soil, half filled with sandy soil, dropped in the paper pots and topped up the trough to ground level with more sifted sandy soil. I am still eating them because the ones I planted direct did eventually come up along with my paper pot ones so I ended up with more than I expected.

[bailey]

well i did most of mine using paper pots and did brill with these ones transplanted ect, but I also put some seed straight into the ground as I was trying to double my chances, not one germinated in the ground,, so it will be paper pots again next year.

[peanut]

they were my second sowing in late april, the first batch having done sweet fa.

Looking forward to puff pastry base, slow roasting them with some red peppers, olive oil and ricotta cheese & a splodge of Christmas pudding flavour chuney tomorrow night.

[whippersnapper]

Just had my first this evening with roast loin of pork. Excellent flavour and size (about 12"). Roasted them in a honey and thyme glaze. Lovely.

My first year growing them and although they took much longer to germinate than anything else, they evetually did fine in paper pots indoors and eventually sown out.

They're 'Tender and True' from realseeds.

[Paul Plots]

Just had my first this evening with roast loin of pork. Excellent flavour and size (about 12"). Roasted them in a honey and thyme glaze. Lovely.

My first year growing them and although they took much longer to germinate than anything else, they evetually did fine in paper pots indoors and eventually sown out.

They're 'Tender and True' from realseeds.

Perhaps that's where I went wrong - not using real seeds 

[Babyshoes]

We got a few to germinate, and had to pull them up this weekend as they were completely waterlogged. Almost all the tops had died back. Got a few decent sized ones, but also several tiny ones! Ah well, they should taste ok! Having them tonight with roast chicken... 

[JayG]

A further thought on getting pesky parsnips to grow. It is sometimes recommended that you sow a fast-germinating seed like radish in the same drill as your parnsips to act as an indicator as to where the slower-germinating parsnips are.

This hasn't worked for me; s*ds law means that no matter how thinly you sow the radish seed the parsnips will germinate right next to them! By this time the radishes will probably have been growing for 2 weeks and have a tendency to swamp the poor little parsnip seedlings and are the devil's own job to sort out!

[Jay The Digger]

I managed a decent crop this year.  I germinated them on kitchen paper in March then planted them in toilet roll tubes.  I left them in my garage until they sprouted, then moved them into the back garden until they had four leaves (about 4 weeks).  They were then planted into a prepared rasied bed.  

My tips for success are:

Pre-germinate the seeds.  It's really easy and you know that the seed in viable.

Plant into kitchen roll tubes (not toilet rolls)  they are longer and allow the tap root to get quite big, and the plant established before it hits the bottom.  If it does it will probably fork.

Prepare the bed thoroughly before transplanting.  I made a raised bed then sifted out all the roots and most stones from the soil.  (By the time I had finished I could push my whle arm in up to my shoulder before it became too hard.  This does settle after a while a bit lower, but by this time the tap root is nice and deep and more importantly, straight.

I used Countess F1 seeds and had about 95% germination rate.  Once planted all went on to make plants (Around 120)  I had so  many that I gave many plants away.  In fact I have around 20 still in their tubes with tiny parsnips inside !!!

All went on to produce decent size roots.  Some still did fork though.

[Sweet Pea 2]

could someone please explain the pre germination please.  Also it is too early to do this now.  How long would it be until you know you have some, need to time it right so that I am at the allotment at the right time.  Is the consensus straight into the ground then.  Not Richys paper pots.  I didnt get any to germinate last year, so want to give meyself the best possible chance.  Figure if I start now, I have time for another go later.

[noshed]

You should be able to sow them straight into the ground. I won't be sowing any for a few weeks yet though. The method I use is sow two or three seeds every nine inches or so along the row. (Station sowing)
This is after making sure the bed is weed-free and has a bit of fish blood and bone worked onto it. Then I sow some radishes between the little blocks of parsnip so I can see where the row is before the parsnips germinate.
Then when the parsnips germinate you thin down to one plant per station.
That seems to work OK.
I get quite excited digging them up, sadly.

[bigben]

As ever there are pro and cons to both methods sweet pea. Straight in the ground is clearly less of  a faff but you can end up waiting ages for germination and it might not happen, once it does you then have to thin and spacing can be erratic. The paper pots take time to make and fill but you end up with the advantage of being able to drop parsnips into place fairly confident about spacings and also sure about what is a parsnip and what is a weed. Last year I realised I had weeded up some of my direct sown parsnips because I thought the leaves would look just like carrots!
This year I have 60 tubes ready with a fair number that have so far germinated. I will plant them in a trough in the ground once I have sifted the soil and space them a bit wider than needed. I might also station sow some seeds direct in between each paper pot. At least that way I should get a reasonable number and if the others come up I will have loads. Those that are already "up" in the pots, remove the need to grow radishes to mark the row.

[Paul Plots]

A further thought on getting pesky parsnips to grow. It is sometimes recommended that you sow a fast-germinating seed like radish in the same drill as your parnsips to act as an indicator as to where the slower-germinating parsnips are.

This hasn't worked for me; s*ds law means that no matter how thinly you sow the radish seed the parsnips will germinate right next to them! By this time the radishes will probably have been growing for 2 weeks and have a tendency to swamp the poor little parsnip seedlings and are the devil's own job to sort out!

I agree with you here.... I just ended up with monster raddish while I waited..... and waited.... and waited.... and gave up waiting for my parsnips 

One year they came through like grass.... I had little idea of what I was doing - just sowed them as if they were carrot seed (whatever that means) and up the little devils sprang! 

All was going wonderfully well until my little (?) sister decided to drop by and "help"  :blink: weed... Result.... loads of nicely tended weeds all in a row and the parsnips all on the compost heap.... bless her 

[Timebandit]

Great tips , I am going to try the paper pot method today an follow up with an outdoor sowing in a few weeks time . 

[Sharon]

I think I must have a magic touch or something.  I have grown parsnips for the last 2 years with no problems.
I just sowed straight into the ground, didn't bother station sowing, I didn't thin them out either. I pretty much ignored them and still I got loads.
In fact I dug up the rest of the row on Thursday and got some lovely ones.
Maybe I won't get any this year.