How to plant out Parsnips grown in tubes.

 Remember I planted parsnip seed in toilet roll tubes? Well they are ready to be planted out in the garden now.

Do not wait until "true leaves" have grown -if you do the roots may have also grown out of the bottom of the tube.

And you want to get the tubes in the ground before the tap root comes out of the bottom . 

The reason being that if the root has grown long enough to poke out of the bottom there is a risk that the parsnip will develop a forked root, and we don't want that as it makes it harder to peel !

For the same reason I have always found that carrots do not like being transplanted.

 
 So, make a hole in the soil - I use a bulb planter

 

hold the tube firmly so the contents do not fall out and carefully put the tube into the hole, so that the top of the tube sticks up a cm or so above the surface of the soil, This protects the seedling and shows you where it is in the ground

Plant out the rest, spacing them at least 8 inches apart to get large Parsnips. If you want to pull them as small ones you can space them closer together.

Water well, think about covering with fleece or net to stop birds ( hens, in my case) or cats from digging them up.

Weed as needed. Job done :-) And on to the next job on my ( never ending ) list.

A sunny, busy, morning in the garden

Well we actually had a SUNNY day today ! at least until 5 pm, when it started to rain .

I did a fair bit of work in the veg garden. A few of the shallots are still growing

But most needed lifting and sadly a lot had rotted away.

The parsnips are doing well -

You can still see the loo roll tube I grew them in :-) Must add this shot to the "How to" guide!

And when I carefully excavated the soil - look! A parsnip!

We stopped for a tea break and, as usual, were joined by cats and hens. This is Babs, she wanted a drink of Compostman's tea.

This ought to be a carrot bed. No carrots grew.

The broad beans have all failed - covered in chocolate spot:-( so I pulled them all up and harvested the few beans on them.

The very pretty Purple Flowered Broad beans got it as well.

This is one of the beds containing early potatoes - I have had to lift them all, even though the harvest is rubbish, because I need the space for Kales AND the haulms were showing signs of Early Blight - not surprising really, considering the wet, humid weather we have had. I am on constant alert for Blight in the Early main crop beds.

This was the result of digging up 5 roots of Orla . Not good!

I had a delivery of plants from Rocket Gardens, today - they come packed in hay :-) What a very good idea!

 

 I am hoping the courgette plants I purchased will produce something as all my outdoor courgette plants were smashed to bits by heavy rain.

 So, not a great yield of produce    from the garden, but at least we have something to eat - I was beginning to worry we would only have tomatoes and lettuces!

Growing Parsnips

Although Parsnips can withstand cold weather, they are notoriously slow to germinate and in practice I have found it better to wait and sow in March when it is warmer.

Parsnips like rich, slightly heavy soil, well dug but NOT recently manured (as, like carrots, they will fork if the soil is TOO rich)

As soon as you can dig the bed over and produce a fine tilth, the conditions are fine for planting parsnip seed in the ground ( if the weather allows you to get a fine tilth, its warm and dry enough!)

Parsnips take a long time to grow BUT you can get a worthwhile crop even if they are sown in late spring. MAKE SURE you use fresh this year seed, because parsnip seeds do not keep well. If you HAVE to use last years seed, pre sprout it to check for viability ( put on damp kitchen paper and watch it sprout, then snip the paper up so a bit has a sprouted seed on it and then plant the paper)



Follow the instruction on the seed packet about how/where to sow, and you may as well be generous as the seed doesn't keep well....

I plant some outside but at least half of my parsnips are planted in loo roll tubes

Lightly cover the seeds with more growing medium and water well.

Transplant into their final position in the ground AS SOON as the seed has germinated ...If you leave it too long the tap root emerges from the bottom of the tube and, when transplanted, may be damaged. This won't hurt the plant BUT you will get a smaller, forked root!



So, make sure you have the parsnip bed ready for planting, if you decide to follow the "tube" idea!

First parsnips

 

 

Now we have had a couple of decent frosts here at Compost Mansions, it is time to start using our parsnips.

This year I constructed a raised bed so as to have a greater depth of friable, enriched soil to grow them in.

We are on over 100 foot of solid clay here and the parsnips were really hard to dig out of it once they got thier roots down into the clay. I was fed up with losing the end of the parsnips so created the raised beds.

It seems to have worked!

Mmm parsnips, we love them!

View over the veg plot.

 

This is a busy, productive time of year, with the harvest season fast approaching. 

Time to get out the dehydrator, and clear out the freezers of the remains of last years fruit and veg. I shall make soup I think with the veg and fruit crumble or maybe wine with the old fruit!

I am now harvesting new potatoes, broad beans, chard, salads of all sorts, herbs, carrots, courgettes, peas and mange tout, the first of the french beans today and lots of cucumbers. The tomatoes outside ( left over plants , not sold or given away, which I could not bear to throw on the compost!) are also doing really well. Which is a first for me as outdoor toms have never done well, here.

The climbing beans have finally got going, the leeks , parsnips and onions are looking good and I should be lifting the garlic and shallots any day now.

Apples, pears and plum trees are all covered with fruit and we have just started picking the tayberries - yum!

All in all, it is looking good so far, so fingers crossed we have some rain ( but not too much) and sunshine!


How is it with you, all?

Growing Parsnips

Parsnips

Although Parsnips can withstand cold weather, they are notoriously slow to germinate and in practice I have found it better to wait and sow in March when it is warmer.

Parsnips like rich, slightly heavy soil, well dug but NOT recently manured (as, like carrots, they will fork if the soil is TOO rich)

As soon as you can dig the bed over and produce a fine tilth, the conditions are fine for planting parsnip seed in the ground ( if the weather allows you to get a fine tilth, its warm and dry enough!)

Parsnips take a long time to grow BUT you can get a worthwhile crop even if they are sown in late spring. MAKE SURE you use fresh this year seed, because parsnip seeds do not keep well. If you HAVE to use last years seed, pre sprout it to check for viability ( put on damp kitchen paper and watch it sprout, then snip the paper up so a bit has a sprouted seed on it and then plant the paper)



Follow the instruction on the seed packet about how/where to sow, and you may as well be generous as the seed doesn't keep well....

I plant some outside but at least half of my parsnips are planted in loo roll tubes and transplanted AS SOON as the seed has germinated ...



If you leave it too long the tap root emerges from the bottom of the tube and, when transplanted, may be damaged. This won't hurt the plant BUT you will get a smaller, forked root!



So, make sure you have the parsnip bed ready for planting, if you decide to follow the "tube" idea!














 And this is what they look like in June