Will these be prize-winning Parsnips?

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If the size of the foliage is anything to go by, my Parsnips will be huge this year!

Until now I have had them covered with a 1-metre high frame-and-net arrangement, but the leaves were pushing up against the net and I thought it best to remove it. I have replaced the 1-metre uprights with 60cm ones and I am now using just the frame to support the Parsnip leaves to stop them flopping over and blocking the pathway.

I’m afraid the poor old Leeks between the rows of Parsnips are going to be no good at all, because they are just not getting any light. I’ll plant my spares somewhere else and hope they do better.

So what do you think, folks? Do big leaves make it likely that these Parsnips will have big roots? I just hope they are not putting all their energy into foliage. The raised bed in which they are growing had huge amounts of compost added to it when I constructed it earlier this year, as well as some pelleted chicken manure, so perhaps the Parsnips are getting too much nitrogen? Well, whatever the situation, all I can do is wait and see.

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