Parsnips Take Patience

June 14 photo

Labyrinth Location: Outer border arc, 9 o'clock plus.
Vegetable: Parsnips
Seed/Transplant Date: May 22? No later.
Soil Preparation: Less than ideal. Converted from lawn with a rototiller, and a few shovelfuls of well-rotted manure tilled in.

Two days ago, I could barely pick out the rows of tiny seedlings among the weeds. Can you? They're there, in the photo above. (No, not those things in the background; those are beets. Planted at the same time.)

It was only in the last week or so that I found the first sprouts. Parsnips take patience; it says so in the Harrowsmith Northern Gardener, but I had already figured it out for myself before I read that. I'm sure I hadn't read the parsnips entry before, or I wouldn't have planted them in this bed. It's constantly growing up in grass from the bits of rhizome that the tiller didn't kill. Some other converted-lawn beds that I deep dug by hand are almost grass free, and probably loose to a greater depth, too, which would have been good for the parsnips. I didn't do a lot of figuring where to plant things this year; it was getting late, and I had to resort to the "just do it" principle to get it done. (So I can't complain too much about the rototilling.) Next year I'd like to plant these a lot earlier.

Parsnips have been an on-again, off-again crop for me in the past, but I think it was the patience that was lacking. I pretty much planted things, walked away, and didn't give the garden much attention until I could see some things to weed around. That might work with peas and lettuce, but by the time the poor parsnips got going, the weeds usually had a terrific head start. Another difference this year: I've been trying to keep the beds well watered until the seedlings show up. (I love my new rain barrels.)

On the topic of parsnips - last fall Mom forgot to ask me to dig her parsnips while she was away. In fact, she completely forgot about them, until this spring. They hadn't been mulched or anything. She dug them up, and they were perfect. Delicious. When someone says "harvest with an ice pick," they mean it.

I couldn't find the camera earlier today, and then I got . . . busy, and then it was supper and a band rehearsal, and then dark. I found the camera, barely found my way out to the garden (almost walked in it), used the faint light from the camera's view screen to make sure I'd located the parsnips, and tried a little pointing and shooting. Point, shoot, look at the screen to see what the flash found for me; point again.

There they are!


Some are getting more of a parsnip look.


But just a couple of days ago, a pair of parsnip cotyledons could hide very nicely among the leaves of this weed. (Sorry for the blur - a lot of my in-the-dark photos turned out like that.)


I think if I let it grow, this weed would turn out to be shepherd's-purse. The garden was thick with it when we bought the place. Over time, we were getting the edge on the seed bank, I thought - more withdrawals than deposits. Then last summer I was away or busy or something, and Garth kindly zipped through the garden and pulled most of the big weeds. Trouble is, he just dropped them where he found them . . . seed pods and all.