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16 May 16 Bianca (Australia - temperate climate)

My frost dates are June, maybe last one in July, if the cold weather lasts that long. If i was to plant in Aug as suggested above, and harvest in 20 weeks, this would not see us through to a frost date with the parsnips in the ground... Can anyone shed any light on correct planting times? I would have to assume this is inaccurate?

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15 Aug 16 Trish j (Australia - temperate climate)

Hey Bianca, I read that because they are so difficult to grow the best way to grow parsnips is to keep them in the same patch, and let the patch self seed, so only pick half the crop, ensure they go to seed and harvest again the following years. I havesome beautiful parsnips, (in heavy soil too!) not many, so not picking, waiting for them to seed for next year.

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30 May 16 Ben (Australia - sub-tropical climate)

Hey Bianca, Yeah unfortunately parsnips need a long cool season to grow at their best, and your question makes sense. I'm in far north nsw and we just make sure to plant them as soon as night temps get consistently below 14C (usually around end April/beginning May) and harvest them before night temps are consistently above 14C (usually late September). They also start to flower around this time so we get them out before that happens too. Saving seeds of the last plants to flower is a good idea so that you can eventually have more heat-tolerant parsnips in future. So basically the earlier you can get them in the better, but not too early! haha. I think the planting times are set as they are because it's when the weather is safely cool enough in ALL subtropical regions but yeah I reckon just go with the conditions of your micro-climate. Hope that helps. Ben

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