[unaspenser]

Thanks for the reminder!  I haven't gotten around to planting my parsnips yet, but clearly it is high time!

[greenhead]

Just sown mine on Saturday - I make a conical hole about 300mm deep fill it with seed compost - compact and put 3 seeds in the middle and cover.. I grub out the weakest seedlings leaving the strongest to grow on.  The discarded seedlings are eaten raw in salad - delicious!!

[Paul Plots]

I know you cannot expect success from old seed but (as I am attempting to economise) does that also go for foil packed parsnip seed that has been unopened? 

I guess one way to find out would be to sow it and see! Problem is it could be ages before I discover the answer and then maybe too late to stop being mean and buy a new packet to sow! 

[Kristen]

Chit on damp kitchen paper and only "sow" the good'uns? I did that and planted in Newspaper Pots and it was only a week from sowing to pricking out, so you'd know pretty quickly if it was OK

I suppose the other approach would be to put a few on kitchen paper and the rest in the ground; if the kitchen paper ones have patchy germination then re-buy and re-sow the outdoor ones?

[chris23005]

How late can you plant out parsnips if you germinate them in newspaper pots? I haven't any spare room at the moment, but there will be a nice space when the first garlic is harvested in June.

[Kristen]

You don't want to leave them long ... once the tap root gets going they need to be out, and that's around first true leaf time.

Mine took a week to germinate and then were planted out 3 weeks later (and already had signs of taproot through the bottom of the pot)

That was for a sowing on 11-Mar, so I expect it might be a bit shorter this time of the year - so safely 3 weeks, maybe 4 weeks?

[chris23005]

Hmmmm, well it would be a bit later sowing than recommended but I guess I can always wait until I see the flowerheads on the garlic before I sow them in pots. By the time I harvest the garlic - about 3 weeks later - they should be ready to go in. Nothing ventured eh? If it doesn't work it doesn't work!

[Kristen]

In that case my suggestion would be to make the newspaper pots "even taller". Just measured mine and they are 5" finished height, so perhaps if you can find a tall can to form them with and maybe make them 7"? (they'll still only need to be about 2.5" diameter)

[chris23005]

In that case my suggestion would be to make the newspaper pots "even taller". Just measured mine and they are 5" finished height, so perhaps if you can find a tall can to form them with and maybe make them 7"? (they'll still only need to be about 2.5" diameter)

Good idea! 

[bluelou]

Chit on damp kitchen paper and only "sow" the good'uns? I did that and planted in Newspaper Pots and it was only a week from sowing to pricking out, so you'd know pretty quickly if it was OK

I suppose the other approach would be to put a few on kitchen paper and the rest in the ground; if the kitchen paper ones have patchy germination then re-buy and re-sow the outdoor ones?

Silly question but how do you chit parsnip seeds?

[Jamie Butterworth]

Im going to put mine in this weekend

[Kristen]

Silly question but how do you chit parsnip seeds?

The only silly question is the one you don't ask ...

Chit them by placing on damp (almost wet, but not too much so) sheet of kitchen paper in a Tupperware box, place another similarly damp sheet over the top. Don't squeeze the two sheets together - the seeds need to get ample moisture, but they don't wan to drown, so need some air too.

Its a bit fiddly to sow them like this, and even more fiddly to pick each one up and put it in a pot - do this before the root actually grows through the kitchen paper or it will be very hard work. As soon as the root has appeared will do (and makes them easier to handle). If you damage the root at all chuck that one and choose another in its place.

[Kristen]

Sad to say it seems I even have some photographs - but not of them actually "chitted" - when the little root has appeared. So more a kind of "here's some I made earlier"

[bluelou]

Thanks, love the pictures.

I am going to test it tonight with some of last years seeds and the new ones when they arrive.

When they are ready to put in to pots, would you just put them on top of the soil or put a light coating of soil over them?

[Kristen]

Depending how long the root is (if you can;t get to them for a couple of days it will be an inch long or so ...) then I either make a little impression with a pencil, or a deeper hole!, I can usually pick up the seedling with the tip of the pencil if I wet it a bit first, position in the hole and just push a little soil round, and over, it very gently so its in good contact with the sol (to get more moisture) but only just below the surface so no struggle to get its leaves up.

It seems like a lot of work to many people (and I don't disagree) but I think its all relative. For me there is no way my heavy clay soil would be ready in the early months for outdoor sowing, and I am certain that I have the right number of plants, and can plant them at ideal spacing, and so on, and I don't have to worry about weeding as I can see where the little plants are from the first day that I plant them out. But then I like doing it this way, so its not hard to persuade myself that its the best way!