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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:
  1. You must use new seeds each year.  They do not store well.  
  2. You should soak the seeds before planting to assist with germination.
  3. They take forever to germinate (2-4 weeks!).
  4. 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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