What are your parsnips like?

[Wowbagger]

My dad, who knew a thing or two about gardening, always said "Wait until the first frosts before digging your parsnips." Well, in recent years, that would pretty much have meant waiting for ever, but this year we've had some real frosts, I sowed some parsnips in the spring (tra-la) and I've dug a few. They are mostly Very Small, which perhaps isn't surprising given the prolonged drought earlier in the year, but I did water them a fair bit.

I suspect that I should also have thinned them out - when I saw that they had germinated, I just didn't have the heart to kill the poor little things. Some were rather piled in together.

[Wobbly John]

We have only dug 3 parsnips so far. One was badly forked. Size okay, but they seem a bit woodier than normal. Probably due to the very dry growing season. We are on a heavy clay subsoil.

[IanDG]

Aunt Bessie', sitting in the freezer.

[Basil]

Aunt Bessie', sitting in the freezer.

  

[The Family Cyclist]

Showing off that you should of thinned them wow. Think I've probably got about 7 having sown two rows. Haven't harvested yet. Don't think would get out the ground currently

Last year was similar germination but they were big and missed a couple which I harvested probably February/March time and we're massive.

[MikeFromLFE]

I've only lifted a few, but my impression is that they are much better than last year's.

Last year I got mostly small, tasteless specimens - which didn't (as far as I remember) fork.
This year they are forked, bigger and much more tasty.
I don't tend to thin them although I know I should, and they get as much attention as the beetroot - next to none.

[JellyLegs]

After a great year last year, where I had parsnips coming out of my ears and was searching for new ways of using them up, this year was definitely payback.  Hardly any germinated and those that did came to absolutely nothing despite copious watering during the dry summer.  I pulled them all last week, not enough in total to make a plateful.

[IanDG]

Aunt Bessie', sitting in the freezer.

  

Seriously, looking forward to growing our own veg when settled in the new place 🙂

[hellymedic]

Gave up growing these after subtotal failure.
Sainsbury's have supplied some nice roots.

[Cudzoziemiec]

I've only lifted a few, but my impression is that they are much better than last year's.

Last year I got mostly small, tasteless specimens - which didn't (as far as I remember) fork.
This year they are forked, bigger and much more tasty.
I don't tend to thin them although I know I should, and they get as much attention as the beetroot - next to none.

Are forked parsnips reckoned to be usually tastier?

[Flite]

Would need a pneumatic drill to get ours out of the ground atm, but they will come to no harm.
I did harvest a few pre-freeze, and they were about normal for us - some big, some small.
They would have benefitted from careful thinning, but I spent far too much time in the spring trying to push plants back in the ground as fast as the moles turfed them out.

Weather like this always brings back the memory of sending my much-missed Dad down the garden on Christmas eve with a hacksaw to fell a stem of brussels sprouts so I could thaw them out in the kitchen ready for Christmas dinner...

[Ham]

I've had some parsnips already which were excellent but variable for size.

Also, what we did this year was to let the remnants of the (2 year) previous crop go to seed (it takes another year, they  are biennial), they make a glorious display. Previous years we've dug them out before they've actually seeded. this year, because time and because reasons, we didn't. After all, parsnips are hard to germinate, aren't they?

No, no they aren't. We've got a ..substantial.. crop coming on now, those we planted and those we didn't

[Canardly]

Possibly the wrong thread, but why do we not commonly have parsley roots to match up with our other root veg in the UK?

[Wobbly John]

Second week in a row that I have dug a whopper parsnip from the allotment. This week’s one weighed 1.8kg!  Photos on Facebook.