I have already created my parsnip seed tapes for the coming season. I plan on planting 2 x 20' rows, as that ought to be enough for my trail of parsnips, since I have not even tried eating a parsnip yet. I still wonder what success I will have in trying freeze the parsnips seeds for planting next year? I want to over winter a couple of the Harris Model parsnips so I have seeds in two years and I want to try another variety next year. What variety of parsnips, does everyone like? thanks, Dean

http://homecooking.about.com/od/foodstorage/a/parsnipstorage.htm states "Although available year-round in most markets, prime season for parsnips is fall and winter. These roots can grow to an immense size, but the truly large ones are undesirable due to a woody, bitter core. Select parsnips that are small to medium in size, 5 to 10 inches (12.5 to 25 cm) in length, with firm flesh and no soft spots. The color should be even as dark spots can indicate decay or freeze-burn." http://www.gardeningpatch.com/vegetable/growing-parsnip.aspx states "Parsnips are a root vegetable whose roots can reach 30cm in depth. A soil of low fertiliity can be identified by stunted growth and the stems turning light green." Never grown parsnips, so this is a best guess, but 30 cm would be about 12 inches, so soil depth of 18 to 24 inches sounds very usable for even regular varieties of parsnips. Would a tall rubbermaid outdoor garbage can provide enough depth? Ugly, yes... The ones that are waist high might provide soil depth greater than 24 inches. Someone posted they planted their potatoes in a cardboard box. A big packing box might provide enough depth?

There are so many wonderful vegetables you can grow in the winter. Expand your greens to collards, kale and chard. Then add onions, garlic and shallots. Broccoli and cabbage also enjoy the cold weather. Turnips, parsnips and radishes like it, too. Depending upon where you are, you may have to mulch heavily or use frost cloth, but I think fall and winter gardens offer some of the best gardening opportunities of all. Good luck! Here is a link that might be useful: Cowlick Cottage Farm

I don't know if planting this late will work. It might. I've grown them several ways here and the seeds sown/germinated in late spring before it got terribly hot have given the best harvest because the parsnips grow on throughout the spring, summer and fall. I've had just a little lower success rate with seeds sown at mid-summer. I just find it really hard to get them to ferminate in our hot soil and hot air temps. You cannot sow too early in spring or they are big when it gets hot and they get woody. If you sow too late in summer or fall, they don't have a chance to make good growth before it gets cold. Then, since they are biennials, as soon as it warms up in the spring (which happened in February last year), they bolt. I have tried growing them using different planting times and find the success or lack of success relates strongly to how hot or cold it is and to whether or not I can keep the soil uniformly moist all the way down into their growing zone. To get them to grow in mid-summer, I have to either germinate them in bottomless paper cups indoors in an air conditioned room and then quickly transplant them as soon as they germinate or I pre-sprout the seeds indoors in paper towels or coffee filters inside ziplock bags. I check them every day and plant the sprouted seeds in the ground the same day they sprout. I still have to keep the ground moist and shaded with shadecloth at mid-summer to get them off to a good start. I sort of have doubts about the viability of your seed. Parsnip is a biennial and its seed is very hard to germinate even when it is brand new and fresh. For good germination, you should use seed that is a year old or less. It can germinate in as little as a week or so (this is from my experience, I haven't looked at Tom Clothier's database to see what it says there) with fresh seed at ideal soil temps. In hotter soil or with older seed, they are very slow to germinate---it can take about a month and it is hard to keep their area moist and yet weed-free during that month. Normally you plant parsnips at midsummer in our climate so you can harvest them in very latest autumn or in winter. They will overwinter in the ground just fine if they have reached a good size before the really cold weather hits. Cold just doesn't bother them. Parsnips are very persnickety about germinating. They prefer cool soils (which conflicts with planting them at mid-summer) and germinate best when soil temps are between 50 and 75 degrees. Then, they take a really long time to grow--maybe 90 days or longer. I don't remember their DTMs because I haven't grown them in several years. They are cold-season crops from Europe, so cold temps do not bother them nearly as much as hot temps do, which is a plus if using them as a winter crop here. They get really long--up to about a foot, so the soil needs to be worked really deeply and be very loose and very fluffy. I grew them here in a raised bed that sat 6" above grade level, but the bed was dug deeply--about a foot below ground--and lots of compost and peat moss was added to break up the clay. If you grow them in unimproved clay, they'll struggle and won't get nearly as large as you expect. They also are not very good at outcompeting weeds while they are small, so you have to keep them really well-weeded until they're about 6" tall. Plant the seed the same way you would for carrots, but a bit deeper because the deeper you go, the cooler the soil stays. If I was planting them now, I'd shade the ground to keep it cooler to increase their chance of germinating. Plant them about 1/2-3/4" deep in a trench and space the seeds pretty closely because most of them won't germinate. I'd put about a seed or two per inch of row. After they germinate, wait for them to reach about 2-3" in height and then thin them to a in-row spacing of 4-6". With parsnips, it is important that they have continually moist soil so never let them dry out. If they get too dry the roots often become pretty rough and misshapen and just don't have good flavor. You don't have to use a floating row cover although it is a good idea to have them well mulched once they are up and growing. The mulch helps keep the soil uniformly moist. I like to put a soaker hose along the row under the mulch. If you have voles, gophers or other ground-dwelling animals that like to eat root crops, they can be an issue with parsnips and other overwintering crops. I love parsnips but find it difficult to grow them and salsify here. Every year it seems like it is too hot or too dry or too hot and too dry at a time they'd like for it to be cool and wet. Dawn