[Stratts]

Just ordered some Parsnip seeds and the handy tip is to grow a marker crop like radish because they are fast growing.

How do you do this? 

Never heard of it before,

Cheers

[DD.]

Simply sow some radish seed in the same drill as your parsnip seed.

Never bothered myself, probably because I wouldn'y know what to do with all those radish! That aside I find an old piece of cane marks a row quite well.

[stompy]

I tried it once, i found that it disrupted the germination of the snips.

Just use a plastic marker both ends of the row. 

[DD.]

No, no, you get better germination using an broken piece of old cane! 

[Yorkie]

I did it with spring onions for the first time this year.  Had fab spring onions.  The parsnips were a little unreliable, but that's parsnips for you anyway!

[Trillium]

I too wouldn't know what to do with all the radishes so I've never bothered. Nor do I want spring onions in that quantity, or lettuces, or.....

Like the others, I just stick bits of cane or whatever at both ends since I rarely plant a great quantity of snips.

[JayG]

Didn't work for me - the radishes germinated and grew so much faster than the parsnips that when the latter did come up they got disturbed by pulling the radishes! 

Don't sow too early, mark the row, water well, and then be patient (you are allowed to get a bit nervous after 3 weeks, mildly panicky after 4, and to have a full-on nervous breakdown after about 5 weeks! )

[Salmo]

I always sow radishes as a marker with parsnips. The secret is to only sow the radish very thinly, a seed say every 4 inches. They are easily seen and allow you to hoe between the rows. Plus they are a bonus crop.