Parsnips - free with sae!

[Eyren]

Hi all

This is my first year growing parsnips, but I'm aware that the seeds don't keep, and on my tiny lottie there's no way I can use all 575 that came in the packet!

So, after starting my first batch chitting in the airing cupboard, saving some as backup and selling a few more at work, I still have two small plastic ziplock bags with about 100 seeds in each. So, PM me if you are interested, send me an SAE and they will be yours in time to sow them this year! Not looking to swap for anything, as my seed tin is packed full again, thanks to kind swappers here on the Grapevine

They are "Tender and True", organically certified and bought fresh earlier this year:

The Organic Gardening Catalogue

[zazen999]

I had a packet of tender and true and hundreds of seed, i only actually got about 10 parsnips of eating size out of it in the end...

[Eyren]

Well, we'll see - I don't have room to sow hundreds indoors, and I don't see why I should feed the slugs on the lottie with them either!

[lynda66]

I had a packet of tender and true and hundreds of seed, i only actually got about 10 parsnips of eating size out of it in the end...

me too ..... sorry to be the bearer of bad tidings

[janeyo]

I ended up with 5 parnips, out of 3 rows sown twice.

They were good though.

[lynda66]

oh yes very yummy

[Eyren]

I'm still keeping my fingers crossed - my lottie neighbours grew loads of them last year, and East Anglian soil is notoriously good for root crops. I get lovely big carrots from my lottie, providing I can keep the slugs from mowing down the seedlings

[janeyo]

I didn't have any probs with slugs, the deer were another story, they like the leaves.
I will net them this year if they come up

[allotmentlady]

any left??? I would really like some please

[Eyren]

No deer here, thank goodness! I'm just waiting for the rabbit plague to find its way along the railway line from Tescos...

(Type 'Pen Close Cambridge' into Google Maps, then let your eyes drift eastward along the railway line - the south-east corner of that page, below the Tesco car park, is teeming with rabbits of an evening )

(Don't panic, mods, that's not my address - it's just the nearest road to the midpoint of the allotment site, which runs alongside the railway)

[janeyo]

I have a few you can have (new seed) if not AL, pm me.

[Eyren]

any left??? I would really like some please

Yes - all I've had so far is grumpy old so-and-so's telling me I won't get any parsnips (only kidding, ladies - given my record with carrots, even a few parsnips will be a success!)

I'll PM you my address...

[lynda66]

Yes - all I've had so far is grumpy old so-and-so's telling me I won't get any parsnips (only kidding, ladies - given my record with carrots, even a few parsnips will be a success!)

I'll PM you my address...

lol ... sowwy, can you tell we get grumpy over parsnips, i spread a packet of white gem over a square meter patch in august though, and they are still growing, and loads came up

[zazen999]

Guilty as charged. Parsnips schmarsnips bah humbug.

[Dottie]

I'm very surprised to read the above problems with growing parsnips, as last year was my first year of growing veg and my parsnips grew too big for my liking. As in 3 - 4" dia tops and 1ft long, thus making them difficult to dig up separately without desturbing the surrounding soil. I'm sure I'll begin to appreciate bigger as time goes on, it just means I'm use (programmed) to buying uniform small parsnips that you can roast whole.

The raised bed I made for them was double dug and raked again and again (removing ever stone and weed) after lifting some jerusalem artichokes that had lived there for a few years, and I'd top dressed the soil with a good couple of inches of leaf mulch. I sowed the seeds direct into what would have been the eventual planting position, and just hand weeded and watered throughout the season. Actually I've just looked at the packet instructions and it says to thin out to 10" apart, but as mine were in a raised bed I did them about 5" apart.

The seeds were Tender and True from Focus (DIY), costing 69p. To be honest as it was my first year I didn't know what success I might have, so most of my seeds were shops own brand and were sowed direct. Everything I put in was successful, but it was a bit of pain waiting to see which were veg seedlings and which were weeds. So I had thought of sowing lots of seeds in trays this year and then transplanting, but I'm now wondering if my basic method is a safer bet, than the more time consuming and labour intensive experienced veg growers use. Plus I now have more of an idea of what veg seedlings look like.

Just remembered everything was watered with comfrey water, as in lots of comfrey leaves just placed in netting and left in water barrels. Kept weed free, via hand weeding constantly. The leaves or tops were about 2ft tall, with some near the edge of the bed falling over onto the path, so I put up a wire structure to support them. Starting sowing from Feb, the soil having been warmed first via plastic. Didn't protect with fleece or anything, as I thought if they don't survive I'll just sow some more.

Could just be a case of beginners luck, and having little knowledge was a blessing. I've always being a gardener since childhood, but it's my first time having an allotment.

Actually just remembered my swedes were disappointing and I sowed them at the exact spacing given on the packet, but I don't think that bed had leaf mulch added. Wilko Swede - Best of All 49p. Could be that Focus is a better seed than Wilko, however as I got the packet out of the fridge to give price details here, I see I was suppose to harvest between Oct -March. But I pulled them out during the summer as I didn't feel they were doing very well, maybe I shall just leave them this year. They were in a bed with turnips, but as they were not covered with fleece the leaves got whitefly, so out they came. Will try again this year with fleece, but if I don't get a good and healthy harvest, then they won't be on my plot again.