A slow-growing root vegetable whose starch converts to sugar after hard frost, producing a sweet, nutty flavor unmatched by any summer harvest.
Pastinaca sativa · also called white carrot, hollow crown
Windows are counted from the average date of your last spring frost.
Home-grown parsnips left in the ground through autumn frosts develop a depth of sweetness that store-bought roots — harvested before cold sets in — rarely achieve. They also occupy bed space during the shoulder seasons when little else is growing.
A little history. Native to Eurasia and documented in cultivation since antiquity; seed viability drops sharply after one year, making fresh seed essential for reliable germination.
Sow seeds ½ inch (13 mm) deep, and aim for 4 inches (10 cm) between plants once thinned. Keep the top inch consistently moist; sow shallowly and lay a board or damp burlap over the row to hold moisture, removing it the moment sprouts appear. Seedlings emerge in 14–28 days.
Water deeply once or twice a week; reduce frequency once roots are established but never let soil dry out completely. Water when the top 2 inches of soil feel dry to the touch. Aim for about 1 inch per week including rain.
Side-dress (scatter fertilizer along the row and water in) once at 6 weeks after germination; avoid heavy feeding after that. What to use: low-nitrogen, higher-phosphorus and potassium feed such as a 3–6-6 organic blend; excess nitrogen drives leafy top growth at the expense of root development.
It's ready when roots are 1–2 inches across at the shoulder and at least 8 inches long; flavor peaks after two or three hard frosts have chilled the bed. Loosen the soil 6 inches away from the root with a fork, pressing down rather than levering, then pull the root straight up by the base of the foliage to avoid snapping the taproot.
Leave roots in the ground under straw mulch until needed — they keep best in situ. Lifted roots store up to 4 months in a cool, humid place (32–35 °F (0–2 °C)) packed in barely damp sand.
A single sowing is typical; for a longer harvest window, sow a second batch 3 weeks after the first, both in spring.
Fully hardy in the ground; mulch the bed with 4–6 inches of straw after the first hard frost to keep soil workable for winter harvesting and to protect crowns from repeated freeze-thaw heaving.
Garlic
Carrot fly finds its host by smell, and a row of garlic alongside can help muddle that trail during the weeks parsnip foliage is most attractive. Useful under low pest pressure, but it is no substitute for fine mesh over the bed.
Onion
The sharp smell of onion foliage often reduces how readily carrot fly homes in on nearby carrot-family roots. The effect fades once the onions are pulled, so plan mesh cover for the long tail of the parsnip season.
Radish
Radish sprouts in days and marks the row while parsnip takes two to four weeks to appear, and its shallow roots keep the surface crust broken. Pull the radishes within a month, long before parsnip taproots reach for depth.
Garden Pea
Peas bank nitrogen in root nodules, but most of it becomes available only as those roots break down, so the benefit lands on the following season rather than the standing parsnip crop. Cut peas at soil level and leave the roots in place.
Lettuce
A low band of lettuce shades the seedbed and holds moisture during the slow parsnip germination, and it crowds out weeds that would otherwise get a head start. Harvest the lettuce before parsnip leaves close over the row.
Carrot
Both are carrot-family roots and share carrot fly plus the soil fungi behind canker and violet root rot, so planting them side by side concentrates the problem and makes rotation harder. Keep them in separate beds and separate years.
Celery
Celery belongs to the same family and hosts the same leaf miner and carrot fly, so a mixed planting often keeps both pests running through the bed all season. Its heavy watering needs also favor the fungi that rot parsnip shoulders.
Dill
Dill is a fast, tall carrot-family plant that shades young parsnip leaves and self-sows freely through the row, and it carries the same pests. The two are separate species and cannot cross; the real conflict is crowding and shared insects.
Skirret
Parsnip shares skirret's family and its troubles: carrot fly, and the soil-borne root rots that linger for years. Growing them in one bed stacks the pressure and leaves you nowhere clean to move either crop.
Give the carrot family 3 years away from this spot before any of its relatives return.
The pea and bean family, the cabbage family or the onion family thrive in this ground next season.
Parsnip is a light feeder that leaves the bed loose and open, its taproot breaking up compacted subsoil down to a foot or more. Keep all carrot-family crops out of this ground for 3 years. Follow with legumes to rebuild nitrogen, then brassicas or an onion-family crop.
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