Parsnip Patience

[daviddevantnhisspiritwife]

I was fretting earlier that I had not started chitting any Parsnips this year (never mind the fact that I still have 1/3 of last years waiting in the ground).

I dug out my seed (self saved (?variety?) / white gem / tender and true). The White Gem pack suggests waiting to sow until later (march / april) to avoid canker. I have had a bit of canker on some roots the last 2 years.

Has anyone else exercised patience and been rewarded with lovely canker free roots? I guess I am already a little later than I would normally be.

[Alison]

I don't even consider sowing my parsnips until April.

[Bigmallly]

Same here. Mid March to Early April but I need to lift last years first...............

[Hazel at the Hill]

Just to offer another point of view (this is the Vine after all!) - parsnips are the first seeds that I get in the soil, normally end of Feb-ish. They germinate slowly, take up loads of room, die back in the winter, be MASSIVE when dug up, and start to put on growth in the early spring - at which point they will be woody, so I dig any extras up and make wine out of htem.

Sadly, for the first time last year, I had real trouble with germination (despite sowing at intervals and with different seed) and will have a dearth of parsnip wine from 2014.

[Alison]

Although all paesnip seeds are relatively slow to germinate, I found that sowing at this time of year meant they took even longer and didn't germinatevas reliably as poise to later when it was more guaranteed. You could perhaps sow early and then fill in gaps but I'm too lazy (and don't have the space yet anyway )

[Scarlet]

I usually sow in February, ground is usually wet which I think helps and i always use self saved seed - never had a problem with them germinating. As Hazel has said they go woody if left in the ground, I dig mine all out before Christmas. That said, I haven't sown them yet, we've been having very cold, frosty mornings so I've waited.

[daviddevantnhisspiritwife]

Thanks for the replies.

The last few years I have sprouted them on kitchen roll and then sown around the end of Feb. I have lots of decent sized parsnips - but a bit of canker.

I got it wrong in my first post. It is the White Gem Pack that says to wait until April. So in the interest of balance I have set some Tender and Tue and some of my self saved to sprout on kitchen roll. I'll put these in as soon as they sprout.

I'll sit on the White Gem until April and see what happens.

In the interim I better get the rest of they roots out of the ground to make room for something else. I have never made parsnip wine. Perhaps I'd better.

Ta

[Hazel at the Hill]

In the interim I better get the rest of they roots out of the ground to make room for something else. I have never made parsnip wine. Perhaps I'd better.

You'll have to have patience for that too - parsnip wine is lovely but needs more than a year in the bottle to mature, I find. I leave mine for two years now, and have my first bottle of 2013's batch ready to open this weekend.

[daviddevantnhisspiritwife]

I have heaps of patience. Some would say too much.

My favourite country wine is Elderberry and I find that also needs a lot of time.

Aside from the obvious answer, is there anything you would compare parsnip wine to taste wise?

[Hazel at the Hill]

Aside from the obvious answer, is there anything you would compare parsnip wine to taste wise?

Actually, it's quite vanilla/oaky - bit like a chardonnay.

It has a reputation for being tricky to clear, according to CJJ Berry, but mines always been clear as a bell. You need to add a tsp of amylase (to break down the starch, I think).

[daviddevantnhisspiritwife]

Thanks Hazel, I might give that a go.

I was a bit lazy with wine making last year, I only did a couple of kits and some juice wines.