Since parsnip hasn’t been much of a success here (Belgium, zone 8b, sandy soil) this year, I became interested in a few experiments.
I’d like to try sowing parsnip indoors and move the plants outdoors later on. I assembled some plant pots by cutting off one side of square plant pots so that one can be pushed to fit into another and the two together appear “one pot”. The idea behind this is that I want to avoid transplantation and disturbing the root system: taking away one part, I can push out the plant pot’s content and run less risk to disturb the root (Photo of someone sowing carrots inside and moving them outside using a similar setup: https://sjeftuintips.files.wordpress.com/2012/01/schuifzaai-88.jpg?w=640 ).
I did a first sowing trial 18/11: 3 pots with 3 seeds (Gladiator) each, and 7/9 germination so far. Plans are to repeat the sowing trial the following new moons up to February. I originally wanted to leave only one seedling per pot, but started wondering whether multi-sowing would offer an advantage compared to “conventional sowing”. Any comments?
