Following the interest in the "Welsh Onion" seed, I thought I would offer up some more seed as it becomes available.
We produce our own parsnip seed - this was done by preserving heritage (true breeding) parsnips into their second year - and letting them raise their impressive flower spikes (now known as the "triffid parsnip" - thanks sandbender!)
8 foot parsnip by British Red, on Flickr
They were staked and the odd pest removed until they were all pollinated and turned to drying
Parsnip Seed Plant by British Red, on Flickr
The mature heads were then air dried inverted in the barn
Parsnip seeds drying by British Red, on Flickr
Finally we threshed them -
Parsnip Seed by British Red, on Flickr
Given these are a heritage variety (Tender & True), by growing them, its perfectly possible for you to do the same - and never buy parsnip seed again
However, the one thing with parsnip seed is it only keeps for a year or two, so you have to keep the cycle going. This being so, we have more than we need from this batch.
The seed is packaged in packs of at least 200 and come with full planting instructions - and even a little history
Parsnip Seed by British Red, on Flickr
How much? Well, as we discussed on the last thread, its just a packet of seeds, so no purchase price is needed. If you would like to make a small donation to cover postage and packing its greatly appreciated and I can buy more stamps and envelopes to keep doing this, I'll provide my PayPal address - but if you are skint, please, don't feel obliged - its enough that other people get a chance to grow their own.
If you want some, please make a post on this thread and PM me your address. I have about ten packets available
Red
We produce our own parsnip seed - this was done by preserving heritage (true breeding) parsnips into their second year - and letting them raise their impressive flower spikes (now known as the "triffid parsnip" - thanks sandbender!)
8 foot parsnip by British Red, on Flickr
They were staked and the odd pest removed until they were all pollinated and turned to drying
Parsnip Seed Plant by British Red, on Flickr
The mature heads were then air dried inverted in the barn
Parsnip seeds drying by British Red, on Flickr
Finally we threshed them -
Parsnip Seed by British Red, on Flickr
Given these are a heritage variety (Tender & True), by growing them, its perfectly possible for you to do the same - and never buy parsnip seed again
However, the one thing with parsnip seed is it only keeps for a year or two, so you have to keep the cycle going. This being so, we have more than we need from this batch.
The seed is packaged in packs of at least 200 and come with full planting instructions - and even a little history
Parsnip Seed by British Red, on Flickr
How much? Well, as we discussed on the last thread, its just a packet of seeds, so no purchase price is needed. If you would like to make a small donation to cover postage and packing its greatly appreciated and I can buy more stamps and envelopes to keep doing this, I'll provide my PayPal address - but if you are skint, please, don't feel obliged - its enough that other people get a chance to grow their own.
If you want some, please make a post on this thread and PM me your address. I have about ten packets available
Red
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