How to Grow Parsnips
For the best winter parsnips, sow as soon as the soil has warmed up in spring. They will grow all summer, forming sweet and starchy winter roots.
- Excerpted from How to Grow Practically Everything
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When to Start: Early spring
At Their Best: Winter
Time to Complete: 30 minutes for sowing; 3 hours for planting out
Materials Needed:
- parsnip seed
- string
- straw
- wire
- plant markers
Sow in Drills
Always sow fresh seed. On well-drained soil, mark out a line with string and make a shallow drill, then sow seed thinly along it. Once germinated, thin to 3 inches apart for small, sweet roots, or slightly farther apart for larger ones.
Enlarge Photo+Shrink Photo-DK - How to Grow Practically Everything © 2010 Dorling Kindersley LimitedFrost Protection
In cold weather you may need to apply a straw mulch (pinned down with hoops of wire) to prevent the soil and the parsnips from freezing.
Enlarge Photo+Shrink Photo-DK - How to Grow Practically Everything © 2010 Dorling Kindersley LimitedHarvest Crops
Parsnips taste sweetest after a light frost, so don't harvest too early. The leaves die down in winter, so you will need to mark the rows well so that roots are easily found. Dig up and eat as required; their taste will improve as the winter wears on.
Enlarge Photo+Shrink Photo-DK - How to Grow Practically Everything © 2010 Dorling Kindersley LimitedExcerpted from How to Grow Practically Everything
© 2010 Dorling Kindersley Limited
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