Clearing away. Resting the land.

[Wren]

I have just 5 rods too.
I have to leave room for the bulk of spring planting with a mulch for the worms to pull down. My plot is not all bare land though . Garlic went in today and I have prepared the onion bed for planting the sets in the next couple o weeks. Sprouts, Kale and spring onions are all doing great, Strawberry patch , leeks in situ , carrots an parsnips to harvest yet and I have fruit bushes, trees etc. Five rods = 3 large beds with a small cross section of path. I need at least one good firm bed to be left over winter so that the soil can settle for my Brassica's to be planted out next spring and once I have cleared the squash/ bean / sweetcorn bed there is nothing else I want to put in because all my winter crops are already in vacated spots. No matter how much I try I can't stand Broad beans an I like just the occasional lettuce :/.
The luxury of ten rods would allow me to have so much more over winter, but I am not a winter gardener because of circulation problems due to my Raynauds disease.
I try... I will wrap up warm an take a flask o tea with me often just to sit in the shed an look out the window because its MY PLACE, MY HEAD SPACE and if it snows I can't keep away, it's stunning in the snow and often my footprints are the the only ones there . Picking frozen sprouts off frozen stems is a labour o love with bone white fingers, whist trying to locate your parsnips under 15 inches of the white stuff.

Five rods is limiting when you want to be getting your Parsnip seeds in the ground late Feb, an the seed tatties late March plus the early Brassica plants in the ground. You have to leave clear beds available ready to rock an roll to get the crops in the ground.

Wren

[Thelma Sanders]

I have a 3 rod plot, and never seem to have space for the winter brassicas
Caulis, kale, savoy cabbage, brussels and swede then there's overwintering onions this year!
Oh dear

[Two_Sheds]

you want to be getting your Parsnip seeds in the ground late Feb

You must be well ahead of us, the ground isn't warm enough for parsnips until April

[Snadger]

You must be well ahead of us, the ground isn't warm enough for parsnips until April

My dear auld Dad would ALWAYS sow parsnips in February upt north. He always contended it was because they had such a lengthy germination time and didn't need as high a germination temperature as other veg?

[Two_Sheds]

I've tried earlier sowings, but they just don't grow - they can germinate in colder soils but can take up to 6 weeks. The optimum germination temperature for parsnips is 18°C, apparently

[Wren]

I mostly just follow what it says to do on the back of the packet weather permitting. Optimum temperatures are not something I observe to be honest . A couple of weeks after sowing parsnip seed the weeds are all starting to germinate down this neck of the woods. I figure they are a pretty good guide to go by.
I had such a good germination rate from last years pack of seed that I braved it and used the rest of them this year, an most came through .

Wren