How to Grow Parsnips ParsnipsParsnips, Pastinaca sativa, belong to the Apiaceae family of plants, which includes other commonly grown vegetables and herbs such as carrots, celery, anise, coriander, dill, fennel, lovage, parsley, angelica, caraway, cumin, and more. The Pastinaca genus includes 13 other species of plants, but the parsnip is the most well-known. Parsnips resemble white carrots but often grow bigger, although they can get woody if allowed to grow too big. Like carrots, parsnips become sweeter following a few weeks of cold temperatures, and most people prefer them this way. Parsnips are very cold-hardy, and I have harvested parsnips that were overwintered in central Wisconsin, zone 4, that were still delicious. In rare cases, parsnip foliage can cause a rash, sometimes severe, due to its phototoxicity, so it is recommended to wear long sleeves, long pants, and gloves, particularly on sunny days, and wash after any contact with the leaves. Parsnips are a biennial so they will set seed in their second year of growth after they have overwintered for a season. Unless you are saving seeds, you would grow them like an annual or harvest them early spring the following year before they go to seed. Parsnips are often roasted or steamed and served with butter. They can also be mashed and served like mashed potatoes or mixed with potatoes. My favorite way to eat parsnips is roasted with other root vegetables and served with balsamic vinegar drizzled over them. Parsnips have a sweet, nutty flavor and are higher in fiber and lower in carbohydrates than potatoes. Parsnip VarietiesI have grown “Hollow Crown” parsnips for years, an open-pollinated, heirloom variety. Except for one year when root rot took over, likely caused by a fungus that causes parsnip canker, I have had great success with this variety. In the summer of 2024, we had record-breaking rains, but since I grew my parsnips in raised beds, the water drained well and I had the biggest parsnips I had ever grown, some reaching 4 inches or more across at the top of their root, which honestly made them a little woody. This year I am trying the “Harris Model” parsnip variety, also open-pollinated, in addition to “Hollow Crown”. “White Spear” and “Andover” are two more open-pollinated varieties that are commonly available. Parsnips have mostly performed well for me in the garden, so I have never felt the need to try hybrid varieties but F1 hybrid options include “Albion”, “Dagger”, “Javelin”, “Panorama”, and “Warrior”. “Warrior” has some resistance to canker and “Javelin” has high resistance, so they are good varieties if you consistently have root rot in your parsnips.  "Hollow Crown" variety of parsnip. How to Grow ParsnipsParsnips require a long growing season; many varieties take up to 120 days. However, they store extremely well either in the ground over winter or in the refrigerator. Parsnip seeds can be difficult to germinate, and it is recommended to soak seeds for 24 hours before sowing. Be sure to keep the soil moist until germination occurs, which can take up to 4 weeks. Parsnip seeds are one of the few types of seeds that do not maintain their germination ability for long so it is recommended that you buy new seeds every year. Once germinated, thinning and weeding are recommended but otherwise, they are very low maintenance. Weeding is also minimal once the foliage grows and shades the area. Like carrots, parsnips require loose soil without rocks or hard clumps of soil as these can cause forking in the roots. They prefer full sun but can tolerate some shade. I prefer to plant my parsnips in a raised bed to provide a deep, loose, fertile soil to grow them. Ideally, you should work the soil to a depth of 2 feet, but I generally do not get any deeper than 12 inches. Although you want fertile soil you do not want too much nitrogen, or the plants will focus on vegetative growth (the tops will grow too much) and not grow very big roots. Although parsnips can tolerate cold weather the seeds will germinate best if the soil is at least 50-60°F. A cheap soil thermometer is very helpful when deciding when to plant spring crops. Plant the seeds about ½ inch deep and keep them moist until germination occurs. The recommendation is to plant parsnips in rows, 18-24 inches apart but in my raised beds I grow plants in blocks. I thin my parsnips to 2-4 inches apart (clipping them with scissors is preferable to pulling), and if the soil is fertile enough, I get very large roots, even with close spacing and no rows. Reduce watering when you get closer to harvest to try to prevent cracking and spitting roots. In the summer of 2024, we had massive amounts of rain and although the roots grew the largest I have ever seen, they also split more than usual. Ideally, harvest after at least a couple of weeks of cold weather for optimal flavor. You can also mulch well to overwinter the roots. If you do overwinter you will want to harvest early before new growth starts and they go to seed, making the roots woody. References and Resources
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Top Books on Vegetables and Vegetable Gardening1. All New Square Foot Gardening by Mel Bartholomew This is a classic gardening book. Although I give some plants more room than he suggests this is a great resource on dense planting and getting more harvest out of a small space. 2. Epic Tomatoes: How to Select & Grow the Best Varieties of All Time by Craig LeHoullier Tomatoes are one of my favorite plants to grow in my garden so this is one of my favorite gardening books. Epic Tomatoes is a great resource from a tomato expert and on how to grow tomatoes, save seeds, and even breed your own varieties. I also love the list at the end of the book on his favorite 250 varieties. I have yet to even grow 250 varieties, much less have 250 favorites! My only caveat in this book is to not follow his method of canning tomatoes. He claims he still follows the basics of the Ball Blue Book but then states he does not bother to remove the tomato skins. Unless otherwise specified (a very, very few canning recipes allow the skins to remain) all tomatoes must have their skins removed before canning. The skins can harbor high levels of bacteria which can potentially cause your canned goods to go bad or even make you sick. If you do not want the hassle of removing skins, simply freeze your product instead of canning it. See my previous post on safe canning if you wish to learn more. 3. Garden Insects of North America by Whitney Cranshaw and David Shetlar I use this book as a reference guide when I wish to identify an insect or learn more about a specific one. This book contains almost 700 pages of pictures and information on the majority of insects that can affect gardens in North America. I used this book to help me identify a thrips problem in my hydroponic grow system 4. Growing Great Garlic: The Definitive Guide for Organic Gardeners and Small Farmers by Ron L. Engeland This is one of those books that I feel like I have had forever, at least since I was a teenager (I was a gardening nerd even then). The title says it all, if you want to grow great garlic, read this book. This is a comprehensive guide to growing garlic that will help you determine which varieties to grow, how and when to plant, what to use for fertilizer, and more. 5. How to Grow Vegetables Organically by Jeff Cox & the Editors of Rodale’s Organic Gardening Magazine I use this as a reference guide when I need to look up specific growing requirements, fertilizers, soil types, watering guides, and more for certain vegetables. Although this is an older book and I wouldn’t mind updating to a newer organic grower’s guide, this book is still full of valuable information on basic gardening. A great all-purpose guide to gardening. 6. Saving Seeds: The Gardener’s Guide to Growing and Storing Vegetable and Flower Seeds by Marc Rogers This is a great starting guide if you are interested in saving seeds. It covers everything from easy plants like tomatoes and peppers to difficult-to-save seeds due to cross-pollination like squashes and pumpkins. It also covers cleaning, storing, and testing the germination of the seeds you save. 7. The Winter Harvest Handbook: Year-Round Vegetable Production Using Deep-Organic Techniques and Unheated Greenhouses by Eliot Coleman Although this book is still in my to-be-read pile (I hope to get to it this year), Eliot Coleman is well known for his Winter Harvest Handbook and Four-Season Harvest books which explain how to extend your gardening season. 8. Vegetable Literacy: Cooking and Gardening with Twelve Families from the Edible Plant Kingdom, with over 300 Deliciously Simple Recipes by Deborah Madison This is more a cookbook than a growing guide but still full of valuable information. Vegetable literacy is a large volume containing descriptions of the different edible plant families with beautiful pictures and tasty recipes. If you want to learn more about the plant families you are growing in your garden, this is the book for you.  How to Overwinter Fall CropsEven in zone 4B in central Wisconsin, I have managed to get certain vegetables to overwinter. One important point is that there is a difference between overwintering vegetables and actively growing them. Temperature is not the only consideration for plants to grow. The total amount of sunlight is also a big concern. The “Persephone Period” sometimes called “Persephone Days” is the time period when days have 10 or fewer hours of daylight. Most plants need a minimum of 10 hours or more of sunlight for vegetative growth. During the “Persephone Period” plant growth slows or completely stops even if temperatures remain above freezing. For me, November 5th is the first day with less than 10 hours of sunlight and I will not go above 10 hours of daylight until February 5th. Most of this time it is too cold to grow anything anyway, but even if I had a heated greenhouse I could not grow much unless I also gave the plants supplemental light. You can check out this site to find your day lengths. So why bother overwintering vegetables if they are not going to grow much anyway? Basically, overwintering allows you to have fresh vegetables either in the middle of winter or earlier in spring than you otherwise would. Additionally, many root vegetables like parsnips and carrots taste better after a period of cold weather. I have been able to successfully overwinter spinach, kale, leeks, parsnips, and carrots, although the spinach and kale do look a little rough in the spring, but fresh growth usually starts as soon as the daylight increases and temperatures warm. One important point is that you want to harvest your vegetables fairly early in the spring or there is a risk of them going to seed. Once they start going to seed the root vegetables will be woody and the greens can get bitter. The two things I do to overwinter my vegetables are frost covers and mulching. I put layers of mulch, usually leaves, over my vegetables, I try for about a foot thick, but I have read if you go even deeper, 3 to 4 feet thick, you can dig root vegetables all winter long. We usually get too much snow to easily clear away the snow and leaves to dig so I generally just leave them there all winter and uncover in the spring. The second thing I use is frost covers. I started buying higher quality frost covers from A. M. Leonard or Johnny’s Selected Seeds which last longer than cheaper frost covers. Regardless, do plan to replace your frost covers occasionally as they get holes or tear. You can buy frost in various thicknesses which can give you a degree or two of protection up to 5-10 degrees. I also use frost covers in the fall to protect my crops from any early hard frosts. If you are still getting enough sunlight to grow crops you may not want frost covers too thick because these also block sunlight. Each frost cover description should give you the thickness, the degrees of protection and how much sunlight is blocked. So, it is a balance between enough frost protection and enough sunlight. For overwintering, I lay the frost covers over my mulched vegetables and weigh down the sides to keep cold air out and to keep them from blowing away. In the spring, once temperatures have warmed up enough, I pull away all the mulch but leave my frost covers over my vegetables to provide some protection. As soon as the ground thaws you can dig up your root vegetables. Greens and onions can be eaten as soon as they start to perk up, grow a little, and basically look edible. Also, as long as the ground is thawed make sure to water if needed. Vegetables should be well watered before covering them up, but you do not want standing water which could allow them to rot. Many plants die over the winter not from the cold but from drying out in the cold winter air and winds. Frost covers also help keep the cold wind from penetrating into your plants. The last consideration is what varieties of vegetables to choose. I have had good luck with Vates kale but I have had Red Russian kale die at 17°F. Blue Solaise leeks routinely overwinter for me although a few may rot. I have gotten Winter Giant Spinach to overwinter as well as Hollow Crown parsnips and any fall/winter carrot variety such as Oxheart, Kuroda, and Chantenay. Resources and References
Growing Great GarlicGarlic is one of my favorite plants to grow, mostly because it is very easy to maintain and I love to cook with garlic. Like many bulbs it is best planted in the fall, however you can also plant in the spring, the bulbs just may not grow as big. Growing garlic is easy and requires minimal upkeep. As long as you keep weeds down with mulch you can plant it and forget it. It is also insect-resistant, disease-resistant, and deer-resistant which is a huge plus. Home-grown garlic also tastes much better than store-bought which may be months old. Home-grown bulbs and cloves are often twice the size of those in the stores. Most garlic does keep well however, so there is nothing wrong with storing it in a cool dry place and using it months later. I've even heard of dicing it and freezing it although I have not tried it myself. As an added bonus, if you grow garlic that produces scapes you can harvest the scapes and use them in some great recipes. My favorites are garlic scape soup, scape pesto, and grilled scapes (see below for pictures). You can also use them as a substitute for regular garlic in any recipe.  Fresh Cut Garlic ScapesCut scapes when they begin to straighten out. If you wait too long they will become woody.  Grilled Garlic ScapesGrilled scapes were, surprisingly, my favorite way to prepare them. We drizzled them with olive oil, added salt and pepper and skewered them on a wooden skewer. Then grill them until they are tender. Delicious!  Garlic Scape PestoThe garlic scape pesto is also very good. You make it very similarly to basil pesto. I used walnuts instead of pine nuts. The scapes are milder than the garlic bulbs so I did not find it too garlicky. I have used it on pasta and chicken both straight or half and half with regular basil pesto. Both are delicious! How to Plant GarlicUsually I try to plant my garlic in mid-October. This year I am a few weeks behind due to a couple of unexpected ER visits that eventually resulted in an urgent abdominal surgery. Now that my core muscles can take a little exercise I got my garlic planted ASAP. I hope it's not too late and the cloves can still get established before the ground freezes solid. Last year I planted my garlic in a raised bed with a high-quality soil, compost, and peat moss mix. It was the best garlic I have ever grown! Raised beds allow you to control the quality of your soil and also provide good drainage which was key this spring as we had 6-8" of rain above average over a 3-month period. Our onions that we planted in the ground simply rotted. Another important element is to buy good quality garlic and make sure it is compatible with your growing zone. Some garlic types (soft neck) do better in the south but will not overwinter well where I am in Zone 4. I have had the best luck with the hard neck varieties that overwinter well. You can buy garlic from many seed companies or even your local farmer's market. Step 1: Prepare the SoilThe first step is to prepare the soil for planting. Remove as many weeds as possible and loosen it up well. Step 2: Dig TrenchesDig trenches approximately 2-4 inches deep and about a foot apart. Step 3: Plant the GarlicBreak up your garlic bulbs into individual cloves and plant them root side down about 4-6" apart.  Step 4: Add SoilCover the garlic cloves with 2-4" of loose soil.  Step 5: MulchIf you live in the North you must cover them with a thick layer of mulch, usually 4-6". This will help the bulbs overwinter and can be removed or moved aside in the spring when the new plants start emerging. Most years I use leaves because they are readily available in the fall. This year I used the dead leaves and stems from our day lilies. I then usually continue to mulch, often with grass clippings, throughout the rest of the season.  The garlic will start growing in the fall but then go dormant when the ground freezes. It generally will not emerge past the mulch layer. Last year we had an usually warm fall (I mowed the lawn in a T-shirt in November!) so our garlic grew more than normal. However, it still came back great in the spring. Once the new plants emerge in the spring you can move aside the mulch to help them and keep up on any weeding that needs done. If you keep them mulched weeding should be minimal. The next step is to keep an eye on the scapes. You have the option of allowing them to grow and leaving them on the plant. Some people promote removing the scapes when they start to uncurl so the plant puts more of its growth and energy into the bulbs. Cutting them may or may not make a difference but I prefer to cut them off just because I like to eat the scapes! You want to cut them when they are just starting to uncurl. If you wait too long the stems will start to get woody. After you cut the scapes the garlic usually grows for a few more weeks. I pick the garlic when the plants start to die off, usually around mid-July for our zone. I knock off excess dirt and let the entire plant dry in a cool, dry place, usually my garage. Once the entire plant is dried you can cut off the stem and knock off any more dirt. I separate out the biggest bulbs to save and re-plant and start eating the smaller bulbs. Different varieties store better than others but most will last for several months if stored in a dry place. Supposedly the soft-neck varieties store better than the hard-neck. Overall garlic is easy to grow and tastes great! I love roasting an entire bulb, spreading it on fresh-baked bread, and enjoying it with a nice glass of wine. Feel free to comment or message me with any questions! Fall GardeningFall gardening is a great way to extend the growing season and eat fresh vegetables into the fall and sometimes even the winter. Fall gardening also has several other advantages over the traditional spring/summer garden. One big advantage is that there are significantly fewer insect pests around to destroy your crops. Another advantage is you don't need to worry about summer coming on too quickly and your plants bolting too soon. For the northern garden, some of the best crops to plant for a fall garden include lettuce, broccoli, cabbage, spinach, mustard greens, kale, chard, peas, cauliflower, turnips, collards, carrots, and more. Basically, anything you would plant in the spring can be planted again in the fall. The following are a few tips for a successful fall garden.  Tip #1: Time your Planting!Timing when to plant your fall garden is probably the most important factor. To determine the proper timing, you need two pieces of information. First, you need to know the average first frost date for your area. This is the date in the fall where on average (generally 50% of the time) the first hard or killing frost occurs. Remember, this is just an average so it is possible that the first frost may actually occur a week or two or even more in either direction. To determine your average first frost date, you can use a website such as the one by the National Climatic Data Center which gives the average frost dates for both spring and fall at various probabilities (I generally use the 50% one). There are plenty of other websites that give similar information but each one may vary slightly so you may want to check a few sites to get reliable date from multiple sources. The second piece of information you need is the average number of days to harvest for each vegetable you plant. This generally can be found on your packet of seeds. Different varieties of the same vegetable can vary greatly so you want to make sure you are using the dates from your specific variety not generic information for a general type of vegetable. In general, however, spinach, lettuce, and other greens grow quickly and will require fewer days to harvest and so can be planted in late summer or even early fall depending on your zone. Other vegetables that take longer to mature such as broccoli or cauliflower you will need to plant sooner, such as mid to late summer, again, depending on your zone. For example, if your vegetable takes 50 days to harvest and your average first frost date is October 1st then you would want to plant your seeds around August 12th which is 50 days before the average last frost date. Spinach and mustard greens grow quickly and can be planted later or multiple plantings staggered throughout late summer and early fall.Tip #2: Water your Seeds!Most years you will need to water more when planting a fall garden than for a summer garden. In general, we receive more rain in the spring and early summer so nature does a great job watering for us during those months. However, in our zone most of our planting for a fall garden needs to be done in mid-July to late-August. This is generally a drier time for much of the Northeast and Midwest so in order to receive optimal germination I usually water every 1-2 days until the seeds germinate and a good root system is established. Chinese cabbage and traditional cabbage grow much better in the fall when insects and slugs are less active.Tip #3: Cover your Plants!If your first frost comes earlier than expected there are ways to protect your plants so you do not lose your crops. The best way is to cover your plants to provide a few degrees of protection. The easiest way is to cover larger areas with a tarp or plastic of some kind, just do not let it touch the plants. You can also buy large frolls of cloth frost cover that is specifically designed to provide cold weather protection for plants. Frost covers come in a variety of thicknesses or you can double up for increased protection. Remember, however, that the thicker the cover the less light is allowed through. For individual plants, you can cover them with a milk jug with the top or bottom cut off or a pot or bucket. This can be time consuming depending on the size of your garden. Alternatively, you can plant your veggies in a greenhouse or cold frame. This requires more money upfront to build a greenhouse or cold frame. Most people are familiar with a greenhouse however a cheaper and easier version is to build a cold frame. This involves simply adding a clear “lid” to the top of a raised bed. This is generally glass or plastic. Many people recycle old windows and fit them to the top of a raised bed. The key with a cold frame is that they need to be lifted up to vent during the warm days and then closed at night to protect the plants from frost. Cold frames and greenhouses can significantly lengthen your growing season particularly in northern climates. Collards, peas, and broccoli are all great options for a fall garden. |
AuthorIn 2016, my family and I moved from the New York City area to small town Wisconsin. Our move, this website and blog (and our previous Etsy store) is the result of our desire over the past several years to simplify our lives, increase our quality of life, reconnect with nature, and enjoy a more self-sufficient life. I grew up as a country kid in central Pennsylvania working on my grandfather's fruit farm and as a corn "de-tassler" at a local seed farm. My background is in biology where my love of nature originated. I am a former research scientist and professor and have now transitioned to a part-time stay-at-home mom, self-employed tutor, and small business owner. Thank you for taking the time to check out my site. Archives
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