Parsnip's is one of those vegetables that is marginally suited to west Texas. It does not like warm to hot soils to germinate. A few years back I found a germination chart that listed a number of veggies and their days to germination at various temperatures along with the percentage of germination at those temperatures.
These tests were performed in a lab where temperatures could be maintained.
Parsnips at 32 degrees had a 82 percent germination rate but it took 172 days. When the mercury hit 95 there was NO germination. But at its optimum temperature of 68 degrees it took 14 days and there was 89 percent germination.. On this chart there were three other veggies to compare with parsnips. They were lettuce onions and spinach. Spinach and lettuce stopped germination at the same high as parsnips but the onions gave up the ghost at 104.
What this chart tells me is that parsnips are very marginal for west Texas.
Parsnips have a long growing season to reach size (around 100 days). Parsnips need to be harvested in the dead of winter ( like carrots, a close relative. are their sweetest). But unlike carrots when they resume growth in the spring, they become tough as a board.
So when calculating the sowing times for Parsnips, a gardener has to count back 100 days from the beginning of the harvest.
To simplify this let us start the harvest November 1. This would be roughly 3 and a third months or in other words late July.
Looking at the above germination specs, the soil in July would be way too warm for a good germination. I have grown gourmet baby parsnips with an end of August sowing. I got a decent take by over seeding each parsnip spacing location.
Last summer I tried planting germinated seeds. This did not work for me even though the seed bed was covered with fabric and the soil kept consistently moist.
I know a fellow that is trying to sow parsnips in pots and then transplant to the garden. I need to check in with him to see how this is working. I will be curious if he used a long narrow container to accommodate the tap root of the parsnips. Other wise it could lead to some very interesting roots.
Johnny's Selected Seeds suggest spring planting with fall harvests ending in winter.
This sounds intriguing. I plan to give a small plot a try. The sowing date for optimum germination would need to be in March or April. With a harvest starting in November this would mean that the parsnips would be growing for 7 months or so. This could end up with "family" sized parsnips.
It has been a number of years back where I adapted (for me) a planting schedule for the various veggies I grow. I had tried to grow veggies like the rest of the country. Our seasons are not like the rest of the country. Most of the veggies that are considered cool weather spring crops (for me) start fine but our springs are short and turn hot quickly (maybe because I extensively use fabric) all of these crops turn into aphid magnets.
I soon gave a shot at growing these veggies through the winter for winter / early spring harvest. This has worked well. Besides when we do have cooler winters these veggies develop some of the best flavors a gardener could desire. And especially with very cool winters, spinach develops a very sweet flavor. One time I had a customer ask if it was desert spinach.
So because parsnips are a long growing crop and like my other winter harvest veggies, I need to sow them at the time of year when they are best suited to grow. I have found trying to force them to grow when I want them to grow is not working.
Stay tuned, this could be the beginning of Parszilla or maybe not. What I am doing is not working so what the hey!!!
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