Medwyn Williams on the art of growing parsnips from seed
They can be quite fickle crops with wildly varying rates of germination
It hasn’t been an easy start to the season, with the weather being rather difficult at times with incessant rain followed by a spell of sunshine only for the temperatures to drop again. If there’s one things plants don’t like, it’s fluctuating temperatures.
The parsnip is one vegetable that has very irregular germination rates and can set your blood pressure soaring upwards with every day that passes with no sign of the seed breaking through. The time that seeds take to germinate seems to vary with each season.
I sowed ‘Viking’ F1 in 10 large pipes outdoors, three stations per pipe on February 26 and the first real sign of germination was on April 1 – that’s a day short of five weeks. To be honest, I was suspicious of the seed quality but from the 30 stations sown, 29 have now germinated and are growing away. Parsnips can take up to seven weeks to germinate, though conversely, I’ve seen them germinate outdoors in 10 days when the temperatures have been right.
My parsnips for Chelsea are the latest variety ‘Sabre’ F1, sown indoors in five barrels, four stations in each and sown on February 23 under glass, only three days before those outdoors.
The difference in growth between those under glass and those outdoors is quite amazing as the young plants are 10 times bigger than the ones outdoors. The young ‘Sabre’ parsnips in the barrels under glass are more tender than those grown outdoors and tend to flop over after every watering. I’ve placed small plastic rings that were sawn off a 7.5cm (3in) diameter pipe, each 2.5cm (1in) wide over each seedling after I thinned them. I also pour in some of the sand from the surrounding bore holes into the rings and this will help keep the parsnips upright. ■ Why not follow me on Twitter throughout the season as I grow vegetables for my show displays – @medwynsofangles.