Slugs are causing damage to the young parsnips. The White Gem parsnips planted in mid-June were growing well.
young-parsnip-plant
Last night one was severely damaged.
slug-damaged-parsnip
shiny-slug
July 24, 2009
March 28, 2009
Parsnip Varieties
*Avonresister*
* small conical roots
* good mini-veg – grown at close spacings, 3in.
* good canker resistance
*Countess*
* vigorous , heavy cropper
* uniform, high quality,smooth-skinned, sweet roots
* good tolerance to canker
*Dagger *
* smooth skinned, bayonet shaped, tender roots
* suitable for mini veg
* good canker resistance
*Excalibur *
* smooth, almost bleached white-skinned roots with creamy flesh of
sweet flavour
* good tolerance against canker
* good storage properties
*Gladiator*
* fast maturing, vigorous
* consistent high quality flesh, silky-smooth white skin, sweet
* good yield
* high resistance to canker
*Javelin *
* good quality roots of smooth skin and good flavour
* good canker resistance
* high yields
* good resistance to ‘fanging’ (forking of the roots)
*Tender & True*
* long roots of mixed size
* vigorous
* good canker resistance
*White spear*
* smooth skin
* good colour
March 15, 2009
Name the Tool Competition – Parsnip Digger.
parsnip-dug
Thank you to everyone who entered the Name the Tool Competition. The tool is actually a
parsnip digger.
We received a great range of suggestions, and I was beginning to doubt
the name we were given. But I then chatted to a farmer who worked on a
farm in Royston in the 1960s. He remembered 15 men walking out in the
mornings, each armed with a parsnip digger. They spent a couple of hours
lifting parsnips, then they pulled the turnips by hand! All produce was
loaded onto a lorry destined for the following morning’s market in
Covent Garden.
Thank you to Sara from farmingfriends who has joined with us to promote the Name the Tool Competition.
It is good to have another joint project along with the interblog leek growing project
Some of the interesting answers are listed below:
* a soil aerator or an old fashioned pitch fork? farmingfriends
* for lifting onions ? oktarine
* a hole maker for planting bulbs? Meg Wolff
* It looks like my aerator but mine has a shorter handle and wider
forks. Carver
* a mushroom or garlic picker? Chris & Laurie
* an aerator for use on a lawn or other compacted piece of ground?
Alice
* THIS IS MY PATCH said “Are you sure it isn’t just a broken fork …!!!”
* John – Farmer giles from Farming Memories said, “Nearest that I can Guess
is that it would be used for digging out Docks
* for uprooting nettles? A nettle remover! farmingfriends
* a potato digger? Jean
Thank you, again, to everyone who took part and also to the 94 year old
gardener who gave us the parsnip digger! We are proud that he considered
the parsnips in our vegetable garden worthy of such a tough tool!
click on the image to enlarge it
parsnip-in-ground
pushing-parsnip-digger-down
dug-parsnip
October 13, 2008
Bayonet Shaped Parsnips
John has grown these magnificent bayonet shaped parsnips on his allotment in Yorkshire.
Bayonet-Parsnip
There are 3 main shapes of Parsnip – (Latin name – Pastinaca sativa ssp. sativa)
- bulbous types with rounded shoulders
- wedge types which are broad and long
- bayonet types which are long and narrow
Parsnip-Bayonet
The bayonet parsnip above is 10″ or 26 cm long! John boasts that these parsnips are just the
thinnings! The final crop of bayonet shaped parsnips will be much larger!
July 14, 2008
White Gem Parsnips
The White Gem Parsnip seed was planted in mid-June, and the young parsnips are now at the 3 true leaf stage.
3true-leaves-parsnip1
In the second photo, the two seed leaves can be seen below the three
true leaves of the parsnips. Click the image to enlarge it.
parsnip-3true-leaves
The stale seed bed system is paying dividends, as very few weeds are now germinating.
Germination is very slow in parsnips, but the white gem parsnips have
come through and are now growing well.
April 13, 2008
The end of the parsnip harvest.
digging-parsnip-goodfriday
The end of the parsnip harvest has arrived. The last parsnip in the garden
was eaten today, 13 April.
dug-parsnip
The parsnip seeds were sown on 15 May, and the variety was Avonresister. They have yielded very well and provided us with an adequate supply of parsnips for 7 months. The taste and
quality of the parsnips has been good. This year the parsnips were not lifted and put into store, but kept in the ground. This was quite satisfactory because the season has not been too hard.
May 15, 2007
Planting Parsnip Seeds
Parsnip seeds have been planted today. The traditional time for sowing parsnips is February, but in our vegetable garden the parsnip seeds do better when the soil has warmed up.
Parsnip – Latin name Pastinaca sativa
Variety – Avonresister
Chosen because of good canker resistance, and ideal for small gardens and high density cropping. Growing enough root crops to last the winter is always a problem, so the opportunity to grow more, smaller roots seemed worth taking.
Soil preparation :
drilling-parsnip-seeds
* luckily the bed had been covered with polythene to keep the rain off. So the soil was dry.
parsnip-seeding
* sowing depth – 1cm
* distance between seeds – 10cm
* distance between rows – 30cm
firming-seed-row
* the row was then firmed down with the rake head
* the seed was watered in to firm the row
planting-parsnips
April 8, 2007
Parsnip Canker
Parsnip Canker is the most serious problem with parsnips.
Latin name – Itersonilia pastinaceae
Brown or black patches appear on the shoulder of the root which then
become soft and rotten. The secondary rotting which follows the initial
discolouration is caused by fungi or bacteria.
The Cause of Parsnip Canker seems to be root damage, which allows
the canker to enter the broken skin and cause rotting.
The initial damage can be caused by:
* careless hoeing
* cracking caused by heavy rain after a drought
* carrot fly
The remedy is
* use of canker resistant varieties
* better cultivation
* later sown crops, as these are more resistant
