Parsnip storing advice please.

[marchogaeth]

I've been so focused on the bits of the garden that needed rescuing that I think I've missed one of my big successes and by big I mean big. My parsnips are huge with great big, bushy tops.

I really don't want them to get any bigger so I would be grateful for your advice:-

What I'd really like to do is dig them up and either clamp them or store them in peat in boxes.

If I can dig them now I can put my Kale plants into their bed, which is a really lovely bed - deep soil - few weeds etc and already has a veggie mesh frame over it to keep the cabbage root fly (and late butterflies) out.

We ate one of the roots yesterday, roasted and it tasted great.

So, do roots need to be frosted to taste their best? This is why I'm thinking of a clamp so they would at least get cold. If not I'll store in peat in the sheds.

If they really need leaving in the ground will it be OK to chop the tops off now? I'm reluctant to put paper or hay/straw over them now because of the slugs although the veggie mesh is quite good at reducing their numbers.

The variety is Tender and True.

Hope I've explained myself fully (long post!).
Cheers
M

[zazen999]

I usually dig them up, prep them and pop in the freezer.

[scarletrunner]

The frost thing is a myth!

[Glutton4...]

PAAAAAAAAAAAARSNIIIIIIIIIIPS!

Send 'em to meeeeeeeeeee!





Failing that, do what Zaz says.

[marchogaeth]

PAAAAAAAAAAAARSNIIIIIIIIIIPS!

Send 'em to meeeeeeeeeee!

Err, no, sorry.

The frost thing is a myth!

I did wonder after the one we ate last night.

So is there any reason not to clamp or store in peat if the freezer is not an option?

[Two_Sheds]

When I last got a glut of p-nips, I stored them in one of these

[Chocolate8me]

I moved the soil on one of mine a few weeks ago & it was huge. Really pleased with myself but I shall be pulling & freezing them after preping as Zazen said. I'm hoping they will last till Christmas for our dinner

[Chocolate8me]

I just want to embarassingly correct myself & say I pulled one today and the top was huge then there were just roots... Left the others in until I can convince myself that it's the right time to harvest them (hopefully Christmas).

[Two_Sheds]

^ roots plural? On the one ?


They've fanged then. They should be just one root

[marchogaeth]

I just want to embarassingly correct myself & say I pulled one today and the top was huge then there were just roots... Left the others in until I can convince myself that it's the right time to harvest them (hopefully Christmas).

^ roots plural? On the one ?


They've fanged then. They should be just one root

Just off out to dig mine up now, having read these with fingers crossed! I cans ee the one I pulled the other day being the only perfect one. (but really need one for nail biting!)

[Chocolate8me]

^ roots plural? On the one ?


They've fanged then. They should be just one root

I took a pic...

Doesn't look good & doesn't sound good either.

Two Sheds how do you know so much? You offer so much advice on here, I appreciate that & respect your knowledge. Credit where it is due!

[marchogaeth]

Still quite a lot of parsnip there though.

[BUFFS]

just looked at your pic,did you feed the young plants?,i grow my beans on fertilised ground ,following year the onion family then third year,carrots and parsnips,they dont seem to fork then,i hope the rest are okay for you..

[marchogaeth]

How we laughed!

Here then are the results of my efforts.......




not all huge.

Here are the rejects (apart from the incey wincey ones).......



In their (my defence), these went in in April and I didn't look at them again until July because I thought they'd all been eaten by the slugs and overgrown with weeds so the fact that any of them were there was a bonus. I sowed three seeds per station and they weren't thinned. The lower bed I used was seriously rough grazing this time last year, and our soil is very thin and very stoney.

All this means they have probably been one of my easiest crops this year.

Also the beds they have left behind is now planted up with Kale and PSB without me having to hack out new beds or do them all in buckets.

Of course, they would have made the most petite of clamp ever but (deffinietly oversetimating their volume), as they don't need frost, I will store the healthy ones in compost in a box alongside the potatoes and we'll eat the oddest ones this week. I though I might keep the smallest ones over winter and then let them run to seed in the Spring as Joy Larkham says they are good for attracting hover flies.

Bad news is, that digging and pulling is deffinitely one of the things that makes all the discs and bits of my spine move around in a really painful way!

[Two_Sheds]

OK, I've been out and dug some of mine up. They were all sown together, in the same bed, but what a difference ...