Tell me about Parsnips!

[hit or miss]

I'm going to plant some parsnips this season! Have you ever grown them? Should I treat them like carrots? What do they taste like?

[applestar]

They do not taste like carrots. They have a flavor that I can only describe as sort of flower-like and very sweet. I like them a lot in stews.

Alton Brown did a segment in his show Good Eats in which he convinced his niece (I think) to eat vegetables by making parsnip chips. I want to try making that sometime.

I'm trying to grow them again this year, so any info from experienced growers would be welcome.

[Artemesia]

I grow parsnips because they are so disease resistant and they have a general healthy tonic effect. But you have to harvest them well before the first frost. They will start to convert their carbohydrates into sugars as the weather gets cold, since sugar is a natural anti-freeze. Salsify is another good root that is semi-wild still and so it is very disease resistant.

[witek]

From my experience: parsnip are easy to grow but should be sown when the soil is warm (in my location, Ontario together with planting tomatoes). Sowing earlier I had bad results. I also let them sometimes overwinter for harvesting in Spring and they are great. By the way: sugar is a carbohydrate so Artemisia message should rather be worded diffrently - I find nothing wrong with parsnips having a little sweet taste.

[applestar]

I had three parsnips left from last year that I never harvested. This being their 2nd year, I expected them to bolt and then I could harvest the seeds. But even though one of them bolted during an unseasonable heatwave last month, the other two didn't -- so I dug one up. It was a beautiful parsnip.

I'll probably dig the 2nd one up today since we are expecting another heat wave starting tomorrow and most likely no more frosts.

[Artemesia]

I do enjoy harvesting a few of my parsnips after the first frost when they are a little sweet. But what I should have said is that if you want to dry them for storage, as I do for most of mine, you should harvest them long before the first frost. They will not store well once the complex carbohydrates break down into simple sugars. And for those people with diabetes, simple sugars are to be avoided.

[lcrossfield]

I just planted some parsnip seeds in a half wine barrel with tomatoes. I hope they will not be to over crowed but I guess I will see in a few weeks.

The reason I am trying to grow parsnips is because I love to peel and mash them in with mashed potatoes. They are also amazing with corn beef! The sweetness of the parsnips mixed in with the saltiness of the beef is really yummy!

[Nancydobs]

Every single seed in my 350 sq. ft. raised beds germinated EXCEPT my parsnips. (OK, maybe not EVERY seed! ) I waited over 3 weeks, then gave up and planted the space with something else. Is there a special technique to get parsnip seeds to germinate? I was so looking forward to them.

[hit or miss]

I had the same problem, not one seed germinated. I guess there's always next year! I may try some this fall and let them overwinter, if we ever get any rain!

[cynthia_h]

My experience as well. I'm not sure what I'm doing incorrectly with my parsnip seeds. According to Sunset, I'm doing everything correctly, but the seeds have the last word! And the "last word" is..."We're not coming up! No way!"

Two seasons running thus far, fall planting for spring-planned harvest. The other cool-season veggies were all successful (well, maybe not the beets...), but I didn't even get parsnip leaves to take to the local rabbit rescue!

Cynthia H.
Sunset Zone 17, USDA Zone 9

[Nancydobs]

Well, none of us has any parsnips, but at least we can all take comfort that it's the SEEDS' fault!

[bangstrom]

This is my first year for growing parsnips. I went to a local farm store in Missouri looking for parsnip seeds and the smallest size they had was in one pound bags. I could plant my whole garden with a thimble full of seeds. The man in the store said farmers plant parsnips as forage for deer. I guess it keeps them from eating other crops. They opened a bag and sold me a small scoop of seeds for a dollar. I planted the seeds in a row and covered them lightly with soil. The parsnips germinated nicely and came up like quick like radishes. I still have more seeds and I like to mix quick germinating seeds with slow germinating seeds to mark where the rows are. I think if parsnips don't sprout there must be a problem with the seeds. They shouldn't take any special handling.

[Nancydobs]

Maybe I'll replant now that the soil has warmed up a bit. (ha ha, we had frost last night!) I thought they were a cool weather crop and planted them really early. If the seeds from the same packet come up this time around, I'll know they are a warm weather crop (double ha ha, low of 34 tonight here in zone 3).