How to grow parsnips

Parsnips are a long-season root crop in the carrot family, grown for a sweet, nutty flavor that only develops fully after cold weather. The root looks like a pale, ivory-colored carrot, and the ferny top growth gives little sign of what is happening below; parsnips occupy a bed from spring seeding through late fall or winter, needing the full season plus a stretch of freezing temperatures to finish. Gardeners grow them as a crop left in the ground and dug through the cold months, when the root's sugar is sweetest.

The hardest part of growing parsnips well is starting from seed that is actually viable. Illinois Extension and South Dakota State University Extension both warn parsnip seed does not store year to year and must be bought fresh each spring, since germination is already slow and uneven with good seed. A second-year gardener who has learned to save a partial seed packet, as works fine with other vegetables, will sow the leftover seed and wait; because germination can take two to three weeks under good conditions, a stand that barely comes up looks like it just needs time. By the time the gap in the row is obvious, too much of the season is gone to resow before the ground freezes.