[Yorkshire Lass]

Last night I discovered that I have not got round to i.e. forgotten to plant any parsnips.  The question is "Is it too late ??"

I suppose I could bung them in and cross my fingers as they may grow into fashionably small parsnips. 

Has anyone else committed the same crime  and what were the results.

[TheWhiteRabbit]

Sorry to slightly hijack, but on the subject of parsnips...I sowed mine 4 weeks ago and they aren't showing, should they be by now??

I've got a patch of weeds where there should be snips, and I'm not sure whether to rip up the weeds and potentially disturb any snips or re-sow?

[mumofstig]

I Googled and it seems people do indeed sow them now for smaller sized snips - so give it a go Joe 

I would have thought you'd have seen something by now..................

[simonwatson]

I hope it's not too late, as I'm planting some chitted seeds tonight.

[Yorkshire Lass]

Think I am going to wander down the plot this evening and try my luck 

I have never chitted any seeds before what do you have to do??  Sorry if this is an obvious question but I only started growing my own veg this year and it has been trial and error so far. 

[simonwatson]

Put some damp kitchen roll in a tub and put the seeds on top. Cover with more kitchen roll. Put a lid on a keep in a warm place. As soon as the seeds start to show signs of life, get them planted. It gives the seeds a head start and means you don't end up planting any dead ones.

[Yorkshire Lass]

Ohh how exciting    Parsnips now chitted.  Parsnips with my Christmas Dinner now seems a reality.  Thank you 

[AnneB]

Definitely not too late for parsnips.  I don't sow mine until early May.   I frequently get failures of germination if I sow earlier.   Even then, there were a couple of gaps which I re-sowed last week.    I got a bumper crop of parsnips last year despite not sowing until late May, they didn't seem particularly small at harvest.

[Yorkie]

Gladiator is a good variety for late sowing, in particular.

[GrannieAnnie]

I waited 6 weeks for my parsnips to germinate, and when I weeded the rows found just 6 parsnips, so I sowed another lot, better smaller ones than none at all. LOL

No good keeping them for next year, so anything will be better than nothing eh?

[Yorkshire Lass]

Woo Hoo!!  It is my lucky day Gladiator is my parsnip of choice 

Thanks for all the advice everyone...just one more question.     When should I expect some form of germination either from my chitted ones or the ones in the plot.

Thanks

[JayG]

Parsnip seed has never heard of the word 'quick', although in the right chitting conditions you can expect to see the first signs of a root developing in 4-5 days.

[beesrus]

Outdoor direct sown seeds in the soil will show this time of year after 8 to 10 days.
You've just got enough time to get reasonable parsnips... usually about 20 weeks. Last year's mild Autumn meant they kept on growing well into November down here. Good luck.

[TheWhiteRabbit]

Thanks all - I'm going to be getting some more Gladiator seeds tonight.

[GrannieAnnie]

The new ones I bought are Gladiator too!