[Elcie]

This year will be my first time planting parsnips so thanks for asking the question and all the tips.

Quick question - can I plant parsnips and carrots in the same bed?  I don't want a whole bed of either so thought I would combine them.

[Cheshire Phill]

Yep no problem, both like similar soils and conditions...but beware, carrot fly like them both too!!!!

Phill 

[new_2_veg]

does anyone on here soak there seed? and if so do you get better results and how do you "soak them"?

thanks

nathan

[Salad Fingers]

Hi Nathan,

Last year was our first year growing parsnips. We sowed some seed around this time and I think about 2 germinated. We kept waiting and waiting but nothing happened. We decided to risk sowing more at the beginning of June! We grew Panache F1 and Avonresister. Both grew really well.

Some of the parsnips aren't massive but I don't like them if they become too big and woody. We are going for more of the same this year. Both are fast growing.

I have also read about soaking the seed but haven't tried it.

Good luck!

SF

[AllotmentFriend]

I sow my parsnips in Early March (our plot is in the south west).  I use a big bar to make a cone shaped hole in the ground, fill this with potting compost, and place 3 seed in a triangle shape in the center and cover with about half an inch of potting compost.  I have done this for 3 years now and germination has never failed, but I never water until they have germinated, we have had frosts later that march, but it doesn't seem to affect the germination.

Cheers

[Kristen]

does anyone on here soak there seed? and if so do you get better results and how do you "soak them"?

Yup. I put a layer of kitchen paper in a tupperware box, seeds on top, another piece of kitchen paper on top of that, put enough water in to soak everything, then pour out any excess (without disrupting the paper or tipping the whole lot down the drain!)

I then "transplant" as soon as a root has formed into Richy's Paper Pots.

Very fiddly job, and definitely not everyone's cup-of-tea.

Germination of parsnips is erratic, and in the past by the time that I'd decided I needed to sow some more it was very late to be doing so ...

Parsnips don't like having their tap root disturbed, so be careful about transplanting. The newspaper pots are planted whole, and I do it when the plants are tiny - i.e. before the root has got to the bottom of the paper pot.