Kem Ormond’s vegetable garden: How to grow parsnips for sweeter, tastier results

They may not be as pretty as carrots, but parsnips are a tasty and versatile vegetable. Photo / Unsplash, Bernd Dittrich

Kem Ormond is a features writer for The Country. She’s also a keen gardener. This week, she’s promoting the virtues of the parsnip.

I read that one of the nicest ways to serve parsnips is baked crisp and golden brown in the oven with a Parmesan coating.

Parsnip is another vegetable that is underrated, along with the poor broad bean.

People either love them or hate them.

Ask any youngster if they like parsnips mashed with carrots, and watch them screw up their nose.

For me, left over mash fried up the next day is absolutely delicious!

The parsnip (Pastinaca sativa) is a root vegetable, and it is closely related to the carrot and to parsley.

They have a slightly earthy taste, are sweeter than carrots, packed with fibre and are a reliable source of vitamin C, vitamin K, and folate.

They certainly are not as good-looking as their carrot cousin, but, in my opinion, they pack a whole lot more flavour.

While you can get away without having to peel a carrot, it is not so with the parsnip (unless small and young), as they are rather hairy and what I call a little gnarly.

You can use them in several ways, such as my favourite, which is roasted, but they are just as nice as a mash with carrots, crispy parsnip chips, creamy soups with some cauliflower added, thrown into a casserole, and I have even seen muffins made with them with a dash of thyme and honey.

How versatile is the parsnip!

Growing parsnips

I have had varied results with growing parsnips, but I have learnt a lot from my successes and failures and now know what they require for growing conditions.

Rule number one, and the most important rule, is not to use leftover seed from the previous year.

You need to use fresh seed every year to get a good strike rate.

First of all, they prefer a sunny spot with loose, free-draining, fertile soil that has been well fed with organic matter, such as good compost, sheep pellets, blood and bone, rotted straw, or the like.

Make sure your soil is free of rocks, stones, twigs, and debris, especially if using homemade compost.

Even the smallest clump of soil or compost can cause parsnips to fork and grow into the weirdest of shapes that are so hard to peel!

So, well worth the effort in your soil preparation.

I like to plant the seed directly in the ground as I do with my carrots, and I usually do this in spring and early summer.

Plant at a depth of about 6mm, and in rows approximately 40-50cm apart.

I usually add a light layer of seed-raising mix to sow the seeds into, as they prefer a bit of pampering to get them going!

The seed takes a while to germinate, so you need to be patient, and you need to make sure you keep the soil moist.

As they grow, I give them a few feeds of liquid seaweed, or in the past, I have made my own concoction of borage or comfrey and horse poo.

(Put in a barrel with water to rot and then use the liquid).

They also like to be deeply watered on dry, hot days.

They will need thinning out as they grow, and I usually do this at about five weeks by pulling out the weaker plants and leaving 7-10cm space between plants.

Don’t waste those young leaves; include them in a salad with some miner’s lettuce, and any other greens you may have in your garden.

Parsnips take 4-5 months to mature, so make sure they are happily settled in the ground before winter comes, as they actually like frosts, as it seems to bring out the sugars in them, making them nicer to roast.

There are many varieties of parsnip seeds, but some of the more popular parsnip varieties include Guernsey, Hollow Crown, Javelin, and Supersnip.

If you want your family to appreciate parsnips, don’t boil and serve; find a more exciting way to introduce them to the creamy, tasty, sweet parsnip.

Enjoy, and happy gardening.