Pounds of Parsnips

Mary Pendergastand Hilary Newellshow off about 10 minutes of work of pulling parsnips. The ground was so fluffy that we didn't need to dig anything, just grab a bunch, pull and shake the dirt off.

While we could have left half the bed in place for another month and they would have all become larger, we wanted to see if allocating one 4 x 10 foot bed was worth the months it took to get them to the pulling stage. The answer was YES -- it's so worth it!

We planted four rows of parsnip seeds in March along with lettuce starts in the space between the rows. The lettuce took off in the spring weather and was picked while the parsnips seeds took two weeks in the ground before they showed themselves. By the time the lettuce was done for the season, the parsnips were eight inches high. After that, we waited... and waited six months -- except for pulling a few tiny weeds, we put no work into the 20 inch tall bed. (parsnips need lots of deep soil with few rocks to keep them growing straight).  We should note that the bed was also irrigated and had a constant source of water.

If you have a little space and want a continual source of winter roots, this is the way to go.

The bounty was taken to the Tri-Area Food Bank where it was gratefully received.

P.S. As an added bonus, besides lettuce in the spring, the parsnips shared their space with the prior year's potatoes that were hiding in the soil. (once you have potatoes you always have potatoes...) We had a seven pound yield of them as well. Win Win!