How to Grow Parsnips

Name: Parsnips

Description:

**Closely related to the carrot except even healthier for you because it contains more fiber and potassium.

**Parsnips are easy to grow and very tasty if roasted.

**You should use fresh seeds every year.

Position:

**Sun or partial shade will work for your plant.

**It will grow on sandy, loamy soils best. Stony soils are not suitable because the roots will fork when they meet the stones.

**Spread a thin layer of well-rotted manure or compost over the ground for the plants in early spring.

Propagation:

**Sow outside in March.

**Germination rate is unreliable and often slow. Consider sowing a marker row of carrots or lettuce along the same row to remind you where they are while you wait.

**Sow ½ inch deep. Thin to 6 inches between plants when plantlings. Parsnips hate to be transplanted, so discard the thinning and do not try growing in trays/modules.

**Have 1 foot space between each row of parsnips.

Maintenance:

**Weed carefully between the rows.

**Only give them water if there is a severe drought.

**One potential problem is called ‘Parsnip Canker’, which means it goes black and rotten around the crown. Discard the affected plants and next year, lime the soil in the winter and sow a more resistant variety.

Harvesting:

**In late fall or winter after the first frost, when the foliage begins to die down, you can start harvesting.

**Lift the parsnips as required. Leave the rest in the ground until needed, or until the end of February before they start to regrow.

**You can freeze them for later use.

Companion Planting:

**Plant lettuces or spinach between parsnip rows to use the space since parsnips grow so slowly.

How to Grow Cucumbers

Name: Cucumbers

Description:

*Cucumbers have come a long way in the past 20-30 years. They used to be disease-ridden, prone to give indigestion, etc. Now, however, there are TONS of varieties to experiment with and the problems have been taken care of.

*They like warm weather but not intense, dry heat. They are not frost hardy, but since they grow and mature quickly, it is easy to get a crop even with a short season as long as you plant them in the full sun.

Position:

*You need to think carefully about where your cucumbers will grow. These plants have long vines that take up a lot of room. One plant, however, produces plenty of cucumbers, so you shouldn’t need more than a 6x9 foot plot for each six plants you grow (6 plants should be plenty for most families…unless you are cucumber crazy).

*It is often a good idea to grow these plants vertically to save space and also to give you healthier, cleaner veggies. You can grow them up a fence, use stakes, use trellises, etc. Simply remember that it is a big, heavy vine so the support needs to be strong.

*You will get the highest yield of cucumbers in a clay soil with plenty of humus. However, a sandy loam will warm up quicker and give you a faster, earlier crop.

*Prepare soil by adding plenty of compost or well-rotted manure, because cucumbers like a fertile soil. The pH levels should be between 6.0-6.5.

Propagation:

*You can start cucumbers indoors two weeks before planting if you want to extend the season, but do not bother with this unless you can keep your seeds at 70-80 degrees Fahrenheit by day and no colder than 60 degrees at night. Otherwise, just wait until the soil has warmed up and plant outdoors.

*If you sow directly in the garden, plant them either in hills/clusters or rows, about ½ inch deep. Rows work better if you are using vertical support. When the seedlings are a few inches tall, thin to a foot apart in the row, with rows about 3 feet apart.

*If the ground and air remain cold, protect your cucumbers with some type of heat-conserving device/cover. Be sure to remove these covers when the female blossoms appear so that they can be pollinated.

Maintenance:

*Mulch is a great idea with cucumbers. Those that lie on the ground are better protected from rot and disease if they lie on the mulch; the mulch will keep the soil evenly moist; and mulch keeps down the weeds. Weeding your cucumbers can damage a cucumber to the point where the whole plant dies, so it is very important to keep weeds down with mulch.

*When the cucumber plants are about a foot high, give them a liquid seaweed fertilizer boost.

*Give your plants a good soak if the weather is particularly dry.

*The worst pest for cucumbers is the cucumber beetle. They not only damage the plant by chewing them, but also go from plant to plant and spread diseases. Pick off any beetles you find and check the flowers and leaves of the plants for more. It is easiest to do this in the morning, because the beetles move slower then.

Harvesting:

*Cucumbers are one of the vegetables that HAVE to be picked whether you need them or not. Do not stop picking them. If they yellow on the vine, the plant will stop producing any more cucumbers. Do not let the cucumbers exceed the size that is dictated by your specific seed packet.

*Twist the mature cucumbers off gently or snip them off with clippers, but use two hands and be careful not to break the fragile vines.

Companion Planting:

**Borage, French and pot marigolds, if planted nearby, will encourage pollinating insects.

**Basil is said to reduce powdery mildew.

**Dill is said to be good for the plant’s health in general.

How to Grow Carrots

Name: Carrots

Description:

**Carrots do not grow well in very hot weather. Coolness keeps them from turning woody and brings out their best flavor. Thus, in warm areas, you should grow them during fall, winter, and spring seasons. In cooler climates, you can plant them in early spring, then more every few weeks until early August, so that there are carrots in the ground even in the winter.

**A few hard frosts makes the roots sweeter and tastier. Carrots are one of the few vegetables that you can actually leave growing straight through hard freezes of winter to dig up in early spring.

Position:

**The best site is sunny and well drained, though carrots will grow in partial shade.

**They grow happily in raised beds because it is the best way to maintain the fluffy soil that they like best.

**Carrots like a loose sandy loam the best of all. If your soil is a little heavy even after adding organic matter, simply grow the shorter carrot types. The soil has to be free of obstacles (stones, roots, clay lumps, etc.) in order to grow the long-rooted carrot types.

**Because carrots are a root crop, the soil should be low in nitrogen and higher in phosphorus and potassium. Use rock powders such as rock phosphate and greensand. The ideal pH is around 6.5.

Propagation:

**Carrot seeds are always sown directly into the garden. The first ones can go in about 3-4 weeks before the last frost date. Single rows work best because they are easier to mulch  and thus maintain the moist soil surface needed to thrive.

**Try to sow the seeds about 1 inch apart, though this is difficult because the seeds are so small. Cover the seeds with a half-inch of loose soil made with airy organic matter (such as vermiculite) because the seedlings will not come up through a hard dirt.

**When the seeds are in, water the bed thoroughly every day (twice if weather is sunny/dry) and possibly cover with a very thin layer of straw to shade it and keep it moist.

**One trick is to grow them together with a crop such as a fast-growing radish. The radish seedlings will emerge first and shade the slower-growing carrot seedlings. Radishes are also harvested before carrots produce their major root growth, so there is no harm done.

Maintenance:

**Give carrots consistent and constant moisture, do not let their beds dry out. Dig in compost, peat moss, or well-rotted manure into the soil to help the soil stay moist. If you use manure, dig it in at least six months before planting the seeds.

**Mulching will also help keep the soil moist.

**Thin the carrots several times, the first time when they are 1-2 inches high, then later on whenever they are starting to look crowded. In the first thinning, eliminate any seedlings that are closer than half an inch to another seedling. Snipping them off with scissors is a good way to do this without damaging the seedlings still growing. For the second thinning, you pull up tiny carrots and you can eat them (try them in a salad).

**Though carrots need a lot of work in the beginning, once they are maturing, they take care of themselves. You only need to be concerned if there is a long drought (then water them) or if they need weeding.

**Protect the last crop in the winter with a straw mulch and you are repaid with very sweet and delicious carrots, since a few frosts make them even more delicious than usual.

**Because carrots are biennials, they normally go to seed in their second summer. In the early spring before this, they will start to flower. Make sure you pull the carrots before they flower because the energy of the plant will only be focused on the flower at this point and not the growth or taste of the carrot.

**Diseases can be avoided through crop rotation. You can also avoid problems with the carrot rust fly through crop rotation.

Harvesting:

**Pull carrots up by grasping the shoulders and giving them a bit of a wiggle or twist as you pull them up. If they don’t come up easily, use a digging fork to help you.

**Once the carrots are out, cut off the stems right away, leaving an inch or two of green for looks. While carrot tops are beautiful, they will keep growing, which draws moisture and nourishment out of the edible roots and leaves them tasteless.

**Carrots keep a long time in storage, either in a root cellar or the fridge. You can freeze the small and tender ones, but most keep find in the cellar or fridge.

Companion Planting:

**Plant onions, shallots, chives and garlic nearby to keep carrot flies away. This only works if they are in the garden bed with the carrots. If you pick the onions/garlic/etc. before the carrots, the protection will be gone.