Parsnips - free with sae!

[zazen999]

Hi Dottie.

Mine were huge - there was just not many of them. Certainly not the 400 odd seeds that the packet allegedly had. How many did you end up harvesting in the end?

[Dottie]

Hi Dottie.

Mine were huge - there was just not many of them. Certainly not the 400 odd seeds that the packet allegedly had. How many did you end up harvesting in the end?

Yeah huge is what they were, too big don't you think? I was being conservative with my measurements, as I didn't want to sound like a fisherman, the big one that got away!

If I pull them earlier will they be mature enough to eat, as in fully formed but just not so large?

I think I sowed 2 or 3 rows at a time, and as far as I can tell they all harvested. I was a bit surprised by a very nice old guy on the allotment who said his were not doing half so well. I'd asked him to come and identify the seedlings, so I could weed. Surprised because I'd not done much other than prepare the bed and sow them.

However in terms of how many I can't really recall, but I don't grow quantity of any veg, maybe 15 -18 rows short rows, which would have about 6 - 8 in each row. Marigolds either end and along the full length of inner side of the bed. It was all very crowded, no space for many weeds, but marigolds and parsnips seemed to thrive.

Because they were so deep to dig up, I was thinking this year that I may grow them in a large container (bottom cut out) on top of a bed. I was ill for most of last year, so didn't have the strenght to dig things up. Fortunately I'm good at pottering and as I've already done the hard work of gettting the beds complete, I'm now looking at ways to do things without needing too much strength.

Thinking that the bed will benefit too, because at the end of the season I will lift the container and spread out the compost. Of course each container will spread shadows onto the bed, but I've decided I will grow marigolds around each pot anyway and then have rows of beetroot etc. Plus the container will act as a windbreak too, well in the bed it will go in this year, as the wind can really howl through the plot. On the downside there will be less room and will need more watering. Only just thought of this as I type, as I'm always thinking up ideas, but now as I type I can also see some disadvantages.

[Eyren]

Thanks to the folks who PM'd me - parsnips are now gone, pending receipt of SAEs