Parsnip seed should be purchased fresh each year. Yah, and it shouldn’t be snowing in April either.
In gardening, as in life, there are many ways to do things, and not many black and white rules. That’s what makes things interesting!
Back to parsnips.
I had inadvertently left a couple parsnips undug in Mom’s garden. The next year they came up and started to flower. Aha! Opportunity for seed saving!
We got A LOT of seed from those two parsnips. Much more than we could ever grow the next year. Being frugal (meaning unable to throwaway seed) I gave away as much as I could and kept the rest.
Three years later, I still have a lot of parsnip seed. I diligently purchased new seed because I *should* but, for interest’s sake, I put a bunch of old seed out to pregerminate.
This happened.
Great germinating parsnip seeds! Long story shortened, I planted the old seed out with my new seeds and will continue to try things in the garden just to see what happens.
What garden truisms have you busted?
My Backyard Garden 