Parsnip: sowing, growing, harvesting and store

A word from our expert

Parsnip, Pastinaca sativa, belongs to the Apiaceae family like carrot, parsley, celery, etc. Cultivated since the Middle Ages, this vegetable has been relatively under-consumed in recent decades. However, it deserves its place in the garden as well as in the kitchen and has seen a well-deserved resurgence of interest in recent years.

Unlike carrot, the variety choice is relatively limited, but there are still opportunities for delightful discoveries: ‘Tender and True’ is a variety renowned for its sweet flavour and subtle taste; ‘De Guernesey’, a more classic variety, is very effective in the garden as it generally produces very well; ‘White Gem’ is a variety of good taste quality, which develops a sweeter flavour after the first frosts, and it is also better suited to heavy soils as its root is shorter.

In the vegetable garden, sowing is sometimes feared (wrongly) but its cultivation is simple and productive, ideal for beginners! Indeed, parsnip is a robust vegetable that resists diseases well and pests like carrot fly larvae. One should simply pay particular attention to sowing: the seed takes between 12 to 25 days to germinate, and during this time, care must be taken to ensure that the soil does not dry out. Similarly, the germination capacity of the seed (that is, its lifespan) is only 1 to 2 years. Therefore, it is necessary to frequently buy seeds unless you harvest your own seeds (we will see how to proceed in the section “make your parsnip seeds” below.)