Vegetables · Cool
Parsnip
Apiaceae
At a glance
- Plant spacing
- 15 cm
- USDA zones
- 3a–9a
- Frost-sensitive
- no
- Growth duration
- 30 weeks
Which beds suit?
- Sun (prefers)
- full sunAlso okay:partial shade
- Soil (prefers)
- sandyAlso okay:loamyraised-bed mix
- Drainage (prefers)
- very free-drainingAlso okay:normal
Seed & start
Direct sow
Sow directly into the bed — no pre-culture needed.
Stachi's tip
Parsnip is the slow cousin of carrot — 5-6 months seed-to-harvest. But frost-hardy and sweeter after the first frost. Sow March/April, harvest October-March. Root depth: 40 cm.
The plant's year: sowing, transplanting, harvest
Sowing
Harvest
Good neighbours
No fixed companion partners — easy to mix.
Limited evidence. This value is not backed by a specialist source — treat it as a pointer.
Avoid these neighbours
Limited evidence. This value is not backed by a specialist source — treat it as a pointer.
Good pre-cultures
Stachi has no specific pre-cultures recorded.
Sources
- LLM-Baseline+gpt-5-review
- LLM-Baseline-Intercrop
- LLM-Baseline-2026-05-09 yieldKg
- LLM-Baseline-2026-05-10 family-zehrer
- LLM-Baseline-2026-05-10 sun-soil-drainage
- Bayerische Gartenakademie (LWG) – Merkblatt 2157 Pastinake, Kulturanleitung (https://www.lwg.bayern.de/mam/cms06/gartenakademie/dateien/infoschrift_pastinake.pdf)
- Bingenheimer Saatgut – Hauptkatalog 2025/2026 (EN) (https://info.bingenheimersaatgut.de/dateien/downloads/2025-2026_Hauptkatalog_EN_web.pdf)
- Bingenheimer Saatgut (Produktdaten, wiedergegeben von violey.com) – Pastinake Aromata (https://www.violey.com/en/bingenheimer-saatgut-seeds-of-organic-parsnip-aromata_p_13105.html)
Where these figures come from
- Timing
- Horticulturally established — consistent across the cited standard works.
- Spacing
- Horticulturally established — consistent across the cited standard works.
- Companion planting
- Limited evidence. This value is not backed by a specialist source — treat it as a pointer.
- Crop rotation
- Limited evidence. This value is not backed by a specialist source — treat it as a pointer.
- Yield
- Limited evidence. This value is not backed by a specialist source — treat it as a pointer.
Sources: LLM-Baseline+gpt-5-review · LLM-Baseline-Intercrop · LLM-Baseline-2026-05-09 yieldKg · LLM-Baseline-2026-05-10 family-zehrer · LLM-Baseline-2026-05-10 sun-soil-drainage · Bayerische Gartenakademie (LWG) – Merkblatt 2157 Pastinake, Kulturanleitung (https://www.lwg.bayern.de/mam/cms06/gartenakademie/dateien/infoschrift_pastinake.pdf) · Bingenheimer Saatgut – Hauptkatalog 2025/2026 (EN) (https://info.bingenheimersaatgut.de/dateien/downloads/2025-2026_Hauptkatalog_EN_web.pdf) · Bingenheimer Saatgut (Produktdaten, wiedergegeben von violey.com) – Pastinake Aromata (https://www.violey.com/en/bingenheimer-saatgut-seeds-of-organic-parsnip-aromata_p_13105.html)
Articles about this plant
Harvesting salsify: why your hands turn black – and what else actually matters
Frau Schneider dug her first salsify harvest without gloves and had dark brown fingertips for three days straight. The sap is harmless but stubborn — here's what actually matters when digging, peeling, and storing it.
Parsnips in the raised bed: wait a little longer – frost is what makes them great
If your parsnips are still in the ground in late September, don't pull them yet. Only once the first frost arrives does the starch turn to sugar – and an ordinary root vegetable becomes something genuinely excellent.
Autumn carrots: why frost makes them sweeter — and when to pull them
Carrots that have been through the first frost taste noticeably sweeter than summer carrots. That's not a gardening myth, it's chemistry. And there's a specific window in September and October where you get both: sweetness and good keeping quality.
Products mentioned in this post
- Plantura organic tomato seed set (10 varieties)Open-pollinated, good germination — robust for raised beds.
- Organic tomato seed set, 14 varieties
- Organic heirloom tomato seed set (Demeter, 12 varieties)
- Organic vegetable seed set, 10 varietiesCucumber, tomato, beetroot, broccoli, carrot, chard & more.