Parsnips - The drama queen of tubers

A couple years ago my husband made me Valentine's dinner. He made paninis with a side of julienned carrots and parsnips in a lemon butter sauce. I was so surprised and touched, my husband seems to fear the kitchen, so the fact he made the effort still holds a special place in my heart.

The other astonishing thing about this meal is it was the first time I ever had parsnips. I immediately fell in love and decided we have to grows these in our garden.

Desired end product:

For two years, I planted parsnip seeds. You know what I got? Nada.

Nothing happened at all. Carrots were just fine. So I was a little perplexed with the parsnip and decided to do some research.

Apparently, parsnips take some love. I discovered the following traits of the parsnip to take into consideration:

You must use new seeds each year. They do not store well.
You should soak the seeds before planting to assist with germination.
They take forever to germinate (2-4 weeks!).
Unlike other tubers, they need warm soil like zucchini and tomatoes (oops...).

I'll be giving these guys another shot and see if we can make them work. Third year a charm?

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