Giving old seeds a last chance?
 

I was thinking of clearing out some old seeds, but wondered if it wasn't
worth just giving them a last chance to sprout in some compost in my
(unheated) green house. Questions:

What chance have two year old parsnips and leeks of sprouting?

Is there a size above which it becomes infeasible to transplant parsnip
seedlings? (I once read that you shouldn't be able to transplant root
vergetable seedlings, but I managed okay this year with swedes and beetroot)

Will seeds planted this early 'get ahead of themselves' and tend to go to
seed?

Tim Lund, SE London, clay based soil

Giving old seeds a last chance?
 

This is probably not relevant , but interesting. I live in Bideford, and the
shops are built on what was farmland,
someone knocked a shop down and the, whole , very large area grew in the
summer into a mass , thousands of poppies,
they traced it back to a poppy field, that was there 100 years ago,
the seeds lay dormant for that time ,
Gea


"Tim Lund" wrote in message
...
I was thinking of clearing out some old seeds, but wondered if it wasn't
worth just giving them a last chance to sprout in some compost in my
(unheated) green house. Questions:

What chance have two year old parsnips and leeks of sprouting?

Is there a size above which it becomes infeasible to transplant parsnip
seedlings? (I once read that you shouldn't be able to transplant root
vergetable seedlings, but I managed okay this year with swedes and
beetroot)

Will seeds planted this early 'get ahead of themselves' and tend to go to
seed?

Tim Lund, SE London, clay based soil

Giving old seeds a last chance?
 

"Tim Lund" wrote in message
...
I was thinking of clearing out some old seeds, but wondered if it wasn't
worth just giving them a last chance to sprout in some compost in my
(unheated) green house. Questions:

What chance have two year old parsnips and leeks of sprouting?

Is there a size above which it becomes infeasible to transplant parsnip
seedlings? (I once read that you shouldn't be able to transplant root
vergetable seedlings, but I managed okay this year with swedes and
beetroot)

Will seeds planted this early 'get ahead of themselves' and tend to go to
seed?

Tim Lund, SE London, clay based soil


I'd have said a very good chance, but isnt it the wrong time of year,
shouldnt you wait until spring? What does it say on the packet, or failing
that google for right time of year to plant parsnips/leeks.

--
Tumbleweed

Remove theobvious before replying (but no email reply necessary to
newsgroups)

Giving old seeds a last chance?
 

Xref: kermit uk.rec.gardening:174903

: I was thinking of clearing out some old seeds, but wondered if it
: wasn't worth just giving them a last chance to sprout in some compost
: in my (unheated) green house. Questions:
:
: What chance have two year old parsnips and leeks of sprouting?
:
: Is there a size above which it becomes infeasible to transplant
: parsnip seedlings? (I once read that you shouldn't be able to
: transplant root vergetable seedlings, but I managed okay this year
: with swedes and beetroot)
:
: Will seeds planted this early 'get ahead of themselves' and tend to
: go to seed?
:
: Tim Lund, SE London, clay based soil

Parsnips are very poor germinators at the best of times and their
germination rate diminishes quickly, the longer they are kept. It is not
advisable to transplant parsnips, better to sow a few in situ and pull out
any extras that you get in the same place. I found like you that beetroot do
well from transplanting but I think transplanting parsnips is pushing it a
bit, but, you never know, they have two choices if you want to try it

Giving old seeds a last chance?
 

Parsnips are very poor germinators at the best of times and their
germination rate diminishes quickly, the longer they are kept. It is not
advisable to transplant parsnips, better to sow a few in situ and pull out
any extras that you get in the same place. I found like you that beetroot
do
well from transplanting but I think transplanting parsnips is pushing it a
bit, but, you never know, they have two choices if you want to try it

I took over an allotment in July, and amongst the weeds there were several
established parsnips that the previous owner had obviously planted in
spring. The leaves on some were over a foot long, but they had never been
thinned and were growing in clumps of 5 or 6.

I broke the clumps up, and transplanted the whole plants with their skinny
roots of several inches long, some into another bed.

All of them survived the transplanting, and I have had parsnips over two
pounds in weight off them recently, and I have a few left in for christmas.

The only thing to note is that it is pretty difficult to plant a long root
straight. I got very forked parsnips in some cases.