[Captain700]

Hello,

My name is George, I’ve been lurking around here and other sites for a while now, having got a half plot here in clay soil Bedfordshire at the end of 2018. I was fortunate in that my plot came recently maintained although only about 2/3rds of it was in use. I bought a couple of John’s books last year, so those have helped me along a bit too.

I had a reasonable go last year, with potatoes, carrots and beetroot being my successes - for some reason the parsnips never appeared. Life took over a bit later in the year and I didn’t get the plot tidied and prepared for 2020, I even had thoughts of giving it up when I went up there on a miserable January afternoon!

Thankfully I didn’t and instead got reading, tidying up the plot and have actually ended up bringing most of it to a stage where I can plant things. Already in are some potatoes, carrots, beetroot and parsnip - it’s all coming along except the parsnips, again!!! What I have neglected is the proper manuring/compost etc so I suspect I’ll have mixed results this year, but I have got planning well ahead for next year and that will include some sizeable changes to the layout (to help with rotation and make plans for composting etc).

After much reading and buying some of those little greenhouse things from Wilcos (sneaking them out as essentials under lockdown....). I have quite a lot growing which will soon need to be going in the plot. So, that’s where I’ll leave my introduction and at some point over the weekend I’ll be back begging advise such as ‘do these Brussels look ready to plant?’ and ‘what do I do next with this celery?’. The problem I’m finding is that the seed packets tell you what to do with things but not much about what you should expect them to look like at any given stage.

Anyway, looking forward to chipping in a bit here and there.

[New shoot]

Hi and welcome    It sounds like you have made a good start, but don't be afraid to ask questions.  If you post a picture and ask if something is ready to go out, I'm sure people will be more than happy to help 

[Fairy Plotmother]

Hello and welcome in.

[snowdrops]

Hi there & welcome to the site. My way of growing parsnips is wait until the soil is sprouting weeds, it’s warm enough then. Weed & rake the area to be sown, my beds are 5ft across so I only do short rows. I put down the plank I walk on, I dont walk on the soil, make a drill with my trowel, water well into the drill but not th surrounding soil, let it soak in & water again. Sprinkle the seed , parsnip seed sticks to the wet soil, then cover with dry soil. Tamp it all down firmly with the flat of the rake, label the rows & wait 2 to 3 weeks for them to show. I also usually sprinkle in a few radish seeds to mark the rows & I don’t water again until the parsnips show. If it rains , it rains. I hear others do different things & I have tried chatting on damp kitchen roll & then planting, sowing into toilet roll inners but I find the method I described in detail the easiest & most productive. I do no dig so mulch my soil with rotted manure or composts & don’t find it an issue with forking of roots like when manure is dug in.

[Yorkie]

Welcome to the site