Allotment Gardening Advice Help Chat

Growing => Grow Your Own => Topic started by: Russell Atterbury on May 21, 2020, 12:19

Title: Needing to know.
Post by: Russell Atterbury on May 21, 2020, 12:19
Can anyone tell me what Parsnip looks like when it first breaks the surface of soil. I have had a right old game until now and find myself looking at everything near to where I hope my germinated seeds should be. Of course a photo would be top notch.
Title: Re: Needing to know.
Post by: Grubbypaws on May 21, 2020, 13:21
Here is a photo. I hope that this helps. I don't have any that are just breaking the soil but they sort of uncurl.
Title: Re: Needing to know.
Post by: mumofstig on May 21, 2020, 16:08
The first seed leaves are simple leaves as above, the next ones are very different
Title: Re: Needing to know.
Post by: snowdrops on May 21, 2020, 16:30
Yes I agree with mum, the 1st true leaves are very different to the first leaves which are seed leaves, mums picture shows it very well
Title: Re: Needing to know.
Post by: Gleavo on May 21, 2020, 16:44
I tend to leave the whole bed until the difference between weed and parsnip is evident. About 1.5 inches should be about right to spot the difference...
Title: Re: Needing to know.
Post by: Kleftiwallah on May 21, 2020, 17:20
Good afternoon  Russell,  next year sow radishes along the same line with your parsnips, they come up sooner and will indicate the row in which you planted parsnips.

Cheers,  Tony.
Title: Re: Needing to know.
Post by: Vagabond on May 21, 2020, 20:20
Can anyone tell me what Parsnip looks like when it first breaks the surface of soil. I have had a right old game until now and find myself looking at everything near to where I hope my germinated seeds should be. Of course a photo would be top notch.

I'm having the same issues, Russell. I've got all sorts of little weeds flourishing where I sowed my parsnips and had no idea which, if any, were parsnips, so I'm grateful for those photos. :)
Title: Re: Needing to know.
Post by: Russell Atterbury on May 22, 2020, 12:15
Hey to everyone. I think that I made an excellent move by braving it and joining this website. It's good to know that there are people who are not too far up their own butts to give a real beginner a bit of time. So once again thanks to you all.
Title: Re: Needing to know.
Post by: Grubbypaws on May 23, 2020, 12:50
If I had taken the picture today the baby parsnips would be horizontal and flattened by the wind  :(
Title: Re: Needing to know.
Post by: Russell Atterbury on May 23, 2020, 13:23
After reading Grubbypaws last message, I want to ask if Parsnip is good at recovering from this sort of thing. Where I am, and the patch of ground my snips are in, is battered by very strong winds at times. Trying to construct a form of protection might prove difficult.
Title: Re: Needing to know.
Post by: Grubbypaws on May 23, 2020, 14:33
After reading Grubbypaws last message, I want to ask if Parsnip is good at recovering from this sort of thing. Where I am, and the patch of ground my snips are in, is battered by very strong winds at times. Trying to construct a form of protection might prove difficult.

I will let you know if mine recover. They are small and very fragile with only one true leaf at the moment. It is just an unfortunate time to have such an unseasonally strong wind.
Title: Re: Needing to know.
Post by: Ivor Backache on May 25, 2020, 12:55
Parsnip are very slow to germinate and usually the weeds are well ahead of them. I germinate on wet paper and grow on in toilet rolls. As soon as the leaves emerge I plant out . I use a 2l plastic bottle with top and bottom cut off. It acts as a marker and also protects the young plants from the cold wind.
Title: Re: Needing to know.
Post by: Russell Atterbury on May 26, 2020, 11:35
Ivor, I'm interested to know which month you start and then plant out your Parsnip. If a bottle with the top/bottom cut off works well at keeping cold out, then I think it ought to b e given a go.
Title: Re: Needing to know.
Post by: Ivor Backache on June 01, 2020, 17:32
I keep a computer diary for my allotment. It shows that I put parsnip to soak on wet kitchen paper on the 12/2/20 and transferred the germinated seed into toilet rolls on the 27/2/20. I transplanted the toilet rolls on the 14/3/20, when the first sign of a green leaf shows. Leave it later and the root may emerge from the bottom of the tube and can get damaged. Plant the tube fully in the ground and water in well. Place the plastic tube around the toilet roll and leave until the plants are fully established.
These tubes protect all sorts of young plants not just from the cold but also from the birds. Also when watering half fill the tube and let it soak down to the roots.
Title: Re: Needing to know.
Post by: Russell Atterbury on June 01, 2020, 17:51
Ivor, I think what you are doing with your Parsnip routine will surprise a great percentage of the people who read this page. I had to look up where Denbighshire is, and I would be sure that you are still in pretty adverse weather on 14/3/20. I don't know if your system is practiced by many folks around, but I'm 100% certain it should be. You can consider me converted anyway.
Title: Re: Needing to know.
Post by: mumofstig on June 01, 2020, 18:07
I do roughly the same as Ivor but a bit later in the year ;)
https://chat.allotment-garden.org/index.php?topic=103226.msg1154805#msg1154805
Title: Re: Needing to know.
Post by: Grubbypaws on June 05, 2020, 16:05
After reading Grubbypaws last message, I want to ask if Parsnip is good at recovering from this sort of thing. Where I am, and the patch of ground my snips are in, is battered by very strong winds at times. Trying to construct a form of protection might prove difficult.

I will let you know if mine recover. They are small and very fragile with only one true leaf at the moment. It is just an unfortunate time to have such an unseasonally strong wind.

The ones that got blown flat have not survived  :(
Title: Re: Needing to know.
Post by: Nobbie on June 05, 2020, 19:14
I sowed mine in mid April in little groups 6” apart in rows, that way it becomes obvious which the parsnips are and you can hoe the weeds between them easily. You can then thin gradually to one at each position, but not too quickly as they seem to like a bit of company, maybe it helps to hold on to each other in the wind :lol:
Title: Re: Needing to know.
Post by: Grubbypaws on June 06, 2020, 12:13
I sowed mine in mid April in little groups 6” apart in rows, that way it becomes obvious which the parsnips are and you can hoe the weeds between them easily. You can then thin gradually to one at each position, but not too quickly as they seem to like a bit of company, maybe it helps to hold on to each other in the wind :lol:
I too have grown them in little groups. Because of the wind and the damage it is causing I have not yet thinned them. In a normal year I would have done this when they were smaller by pulling the unwanted seedlings out carefully. They are now 4-5 inches tall with several leaves. Is it still OK to pull them out to thin or will this put the chosen one at risk? Would it be better to snip rather than pull?
Title: Re: Needing to know.
Post by: Russell Atterbury on June 06, 2020, 13:15
As of Grubbypaws last mail, just today I thinned out my Parsnip. But reading the mail, maybe I should have left it for a while, they are only with the one leaf, and I was thinking about the disturbance it would create if left much longer. Conclusion is: what a learning curve we are all on, and there is no exact or guaranteed method. But I have to say that Ivor seems to have perfected it the best it can be. I mean, getting them in the ground in the middle of March.....in north Wales.