[boosh]

We have one guy on our allotment site who dosen't sow his parsnips till the last week in april the first week in may, He is still digging them up now and there delicous. he hates large parsnips these are still big nips.

[Tattyanne456]

I've sown mine last week, but I had the ground covered with black plastic and a cloche to warm the soil up first. The cloche is still over them, but I haven't been back to look see if anything is up yet.

[Kristen]

i personally cant see the benefit of parsnips in paper pots Jamie your making work for yourself ).

Just my 2p worth:

Its a lot of work (making pots, filling them, chitting seed, pricking out, watering and nuturing)

Flip-side:

Germination guaranteed, provides the plant with 6" - 7" depth (in the case of my paper pots ) of nice soil to form the Parsnip in.

Failed germination (which tends to take a while anyway) when sowing direct can mean that re-sowing is very late in the season.

I get a plant exactly where I want it - no gaps, no thinning, etc.

Edit: Additional point: Bed doesn't have to be ready in time can sow the seeds at the right time and buy a few extra weeks to get the soil ready, a bonus on my heavy, sometimes waterlogged, clay - particularly in a late season like this one.

For folk with lovely soil this doesn't apply!

[DavidT]

I`m hoping to sow them (direct) on tuesday.

[viettaclark]

I'm trying last year's seed and planted straight into the prepared bed with no protection over a week ago.
I reckon there's plenty of time to resow if they don't germinate and if they do they'll be strong plants!!!

[MoreWhisky]

Seems to be fifty fifty about the use of paper pots or not  typical gardening , thats why we all love it 

[Jonajo]

I just do the following which is dead easy, fuss-free and the times I have done it before I had 100% success:

Given the seed's shelf-life is not great, given the seed packets are not expensive, and given the sheer number of seeds in a packet.

(1) dib holes about 1cm deep along the area I want to use for parnips

(2) into each hole pop in 4-5 seeds (if more blow in, then so be it!). This way it is almost a dead cert that each hole will result in a parsnip eventually.

(3) cover with soil, water

That's it.


I did about 40 a few weeks ago (warmed up soil for a week or so first by covering) and covered where I had sowed with fleece. All "stations" now have germinations - later I am going to thin where there are several germinations per station.

And I will do another batch of parnips the same way next week but without warming the ground.

In the rare event that a parsnip does not germinate in one of those holes, you can simply use one of the thinned germinations from another hole- just pull it carefully and pop it into another hole and fill in. I used to do that in the past and that always worked.