Parsnip Pastinaca sativa

How to sow parsnip: Direct seed outdoors, thin seedlings to 5cm apart

Sun requirement for parsnip: Plant in Full Sun

Parsnip has been planted 9 times by Growstuff members.

Parsnips are a root vegetable closely related to carrots and celery. They look like thick white carrots with larger, slightly rough foliage. Parsnips taste similar to carrots, except that they are sweeter, especially when cooked. Like carrots, they can be broiled, pureed, roasted, steamed, and baked into cakes. They become even sweeter in flavor after winter frosts. Before cane sugar arrived in Europe, they were used as a sweetener. The stems and foliage of the parsnip can cause a skin rash - wear long sleeves, pants, and gloves when weeding and harvesting.

Predictions

Annual

living and reproducing in a single year or less

Median lifespan

34 weeks

First harvest expected

34 weeks after planting

Height

30cm

Spread

20cm

Row Spacing

5cm

Companions

sweet potato

Photos

Parsnip crops

Open Farm photo

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Open Farm photo

by cropbot 0

Open Farm photo

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Photo by Pat Deacon via iNaturalist (Copyright Pat Deacon)

by cropbot 2024-01-01 0

Photo by Scott Ulian via iNaturalist (Copyright Scott Ulian)

by cropbot 2024-01-02 0

Parsnip plantings

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by shiny 2018-12-17 1

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by shiny 2018-07-18 0

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Parsnip harvests

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Parsnip seeds

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more photos »

Sunniness

Planted from

Harvested for

Varieties

parsnip Avon resister

Crop Map

Only plantings by members who have set their locations are shown on this map.

What people are saying about parsnips

How to save seeds

by shiny,

Beans, peas and corn: remove husks and allow seeds to dry out – this may take a couple of weeks, then remove casings and store.

Pumpkins and melons: seeds need to be washed and set aside to dry for a week or so befor…

beans peas corn pumpkins melons lettuces celery parsnips carrots leeks onions radicchio cucumbers tomatoes zucchini capsica

Preparing for winter

by shiny,

I'm going to attempt to grow potato over winter. To prepare I'm going to do a full garden bed of mustard and then dig the greens into the soil. Add compost and blood and bone. I've never attempted potato over winter. It can get very wet here, and in August it dr…

potatoes mustard parsnips carrots

Orchard

by oakandsage,

Banana s have taken off. Both doing well. They only have about a month before the weather starts getting a bit cold, nights are already getting down to 50F some nights. Will have to think about frost protection soon.

Grapes that survived are doing well. The on…

bananas Common Figs cherries squash parsnips

First strawberry!

by neotoma,

I had the first tiny strawberry of the season today! I'm looking forward to many more.

Also, I transplanted a lot of seedlings into the community garden today: 2 cucumbers, 3 green beans, 2 tongue-of-fire beans, an ornamental [sweet potato](/crops/sweet-…