Germinate Parsnips Successfully

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Chitting or Sprouting Potatoes

Without chitting some tubers may fail to grow, causing gaps in the rows, others may send up as many as seven or eight stems which, being overcrowded become tall and spindly. This weakened growth will yield only a poor crop of tubers, most of them small.

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Successful Germinating of Parsnips

I have for many years been sowing and harvesting a parsnip by the name of Gladiator as it is supposed to be more canker resistant and has a sweet flavor. Originally I used to have problems getting them to germinate and was left with very gappy rows.

Everyone knows that parsnip seed should be sown fresh. Those seed left over from last year are useless to sow this year as their viability is greatly reduced and no useful crop will materialize.

In my early days of kitchen gardening on an allotment I came to realize that germination of a good row of Gladiator Parsnips was very much a hit and miss affair. Some years a full row ,other years very poor and second late sowing frequently no better. I would console myself with the usual excuse ’ Poor seed’ and resign myself to buying parsnips that winter.

While explaining my inability to grow parsnips to the allotment ancient elderly sage he remarked “Nay lad. Thas got to keep em wat early on”. I probed further and found an article which stated that parsnip seedling leaves (cotyledons) when they first come out of the seed are unable to grow upwards through dry soil but were able to if the soil was damp.

The following year after sowing my gladiators I would watch the weather and if it was a breezy bright day would rush to the allotment during my lunch break to water the row. This did succeed in giving me a complete row but played havoc with my work schedule. Later when I was thanking the sage for his wisdom and proudly presenting my complete row and explaining my lunchtime sorties he said “Nay lad. Tha mad a rod for thi back, tha should ha put a plank on em”. When you come to think about it, it is always damp on the ground under a plank.

My technique now is to sow the parsnip row as usual and put at one end a label with parsnip name and very important the date of sowing (most important with my memory). I next water the row and cover the row with planks preferably ¾” by 9” and 8’ or 9’ long. I place a brick on each end of the plank to prevent them, when they dry, from naturally bending upwards at each end to leave an airspace for a drying breeze to penetrate. Germination takes 21 to 24 days so I lift the planks after 21 days and place them alongside to walk on if I need to water to keep the soil moist over the next few days. After this it is only a matter of sitting back until harvesting a good crop of gladiator parsnips.

You can buy Gladiator parsnip seed along with other varieties via the garden shop section - see Parsnip Seeds

This last spring in the walled garden of Heligan I was talking to a gardener pruning a peach tree to congratulate her on the five perfect rows of parsnips seedlings stretching across 15 yds ( Prince, Albion, Countess, Javelin and Tender & True).. She remarked that the previous year had been bad and they had had to resow twice as it was a dry spring . This year they had sprinkled with water after sowing if it was a dry day and had 100% success.

Now having reached the age of that ancient elderly sage I feel it is incumbent on me to pass on his wisdom. This is the reason for this article and I hope it will serve you as well as it has me over the past 29 years.

Carl Denton

This article originally appeared in the Members Bulletin now called Simply Vegetables, the journal of the National Vegetable Society, which is sent quarterly to members. You can Join the National Vegetable Society here

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