If you look very closely at the picture you will see that there are two different vegetable seedlings germinating in the same row. We sowed our parsnips in the same drill as our radish seeds. This was a deliberate act, and not because of some labelling mismatch or seed packet mix up (unlike the rainbow chard and beetroot muddle last week – but that’s another story!).

Parsnips are very slow to germinate whereas radish spring up in no time flat. The radish was ready to harvest in 6 weeks and as you can see the parsnips have only just emerged. Intercropping or double cropping like this is a great space saver, yielding 2 crops from the same row. The fast germinating radish also acts as a marker – highlighting where the slower growing parsnip seeds are hiding in the soil.

It is important to take care when harvesting so as not to disturb the parsnip seedlings, gentle gardening required!