Before the potato arrived in Europe, parsnips were used to fill that "gravy-mopping" role.   Still today, they can be roasted, chipped, boiled'n mashed - just like a potato.   They have a stronger flavour, and can carry the spices for a wonderfully warming, thick winter soup.

Apart from the initial germination, which can be tricky, they are an easy crop to grow.

• Choosing a variety.   If you want a long-rooted variety of parsnip, you'll need a deep, stone-free soil.   Otherwise, choose one of the shorter rooted types.   I have rarely had a problem with canker; worth choosing varieties with good resistance to this disease.
• Parsnips will grow in any reasonable soil; just dig it well in autumn, but do not add manure.
• Parsnips sown in March or even April have given me better harvests - before the soil gets very warm; apparently, such "late-sown" parsnips are far less prone to canker (lazy gardening wins again?).   Sow three/four seed every 6 inches, in half-inch drills, 12 inches apart.
  • In a heavy clay soil, like mine, you could try this?   Use a spade handle type dibber to make a hole - 3 inches wide by 18 inches deep; fill this with a nice light loam (or your soil mixed with sand), and sow 3-4 seeds in it.   If you want really big roots, space these holes every 8 inches.
• It can take a month for the seeds to germinate, so it is worth sowing a row of radishes with the parsnips.   They'll show you where your row is, but be out of the soil before the parsnips need the space.
• Thin the groups of seedlings to single plants.
• And watch them grow!   They may need water in a prolonged dry spell, but they have such deep roots this is unlikely.   They will be ready for harvest when the leaves die back in autumn - best to wait for the first frost to improve the flavour!   Lift them as you need them through the winter.
• One nasty - if carrot fly cannot find carrots, they'll happily get stuck into your parsnips.
• If you leave one or two in the bed the next year, you should get masses of umbrella flowers which attract hoverflies.

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