[heygrow]

Look how my parsnips have have turned out this year. Can anyone tell me what the problem may be?

I have grown in the same raised bed in previous years with good results. The bed only had home grown compost in and all the other veg have grown well. Leeks are along side and going OK.

Also I did sow them direct into the soil and they have took well and grew vigorously due to weather. I was concerned that there was far too much leaf growth and would not have much root.  Good soil with virtually no stones.

Hope the picture is attached!

[JayG]

Tricky one this, partly because I've had similar results in the past (in fact I've never had a crop without at least some of them forking so early in their growth there is very little usable root to eat.  )

Having said that, my soil is very stony, yours isn't. It's usually advised not to grow parsnips in recently manured soil as the roots tend to fork round any lumps of manure, and/or fork out in the direction of the richer nutrients.

Home made compost isn't normally very nutrient rich, so isn't likely to have overfed the plants. However, given that the top growth is clearly good and strong, I can only suggest that next year you try growing them without the added compost.

[heygrow]

Thanks JayG. Yes it's a bit of a mystery. No manure added and no stones of significance. Compost was quite good, but only home produced from normal plant/grass and kitchen veg waste. Will have to try a different variety next year.
I think their still eatable, if hard to prep.

[victoria park]

If it's not a soil thing, I can only think of a dry weather reason, and it was really dry earlier in the season, especially for raised beds. While I had awful germination problems this year with paper pots, and had to supplement with direct sowings later, I have had no, that's zero, forked parsnips so far, with 2 different varieties sown. Best year ever forking wise, along with my carrots close by. The answer in my head ? water. I was diligent in the extreme with the water thing at germination, but importantly given previous suspicions, I decided to grow on the area of my new second plot that never dries out at 9 inches down, being a well known run down the hill area on the site.  I have the next "wet bed" already marked out for next season.

[AlaninCarlisle]

Parsnips must be the most infuriating ever vegetables to grow. By early June I was on my fourth sowing since starting in April with nothing showing through to that point. Then that fourth sowing germinated and showed through - along with the other three! Now I have an overcrowding problem and far more parsnips than we'll ever need