Leeks & Parsnips Bed Hogger

[veg4681]

I'm planning on growing these 2 veggies this year and noticed that they have similar growing/harvesting period that extends beyond December when there's pretty much nothing else to eat from your garden.

So is it common to grow them close together? I intend to set aside an exclusive bed space for these 2 and not worry about freeing up bed space that I know isn't going to be available for a long time with these two. If I have space, I may also add swede that appears to have similar long growing period. Am I right in thinking these 3 vegetables are handy for harvesting as you need , effectively using the bed as your fridge/freezer. I have noticed that parsnips and swede don't store well once bought from shop so leaving them in the ground would be excellent veg storage solution for me.

[Cutecumber]

First a caveat - I have never grown leeks, swedes or parsnips myself!

But here's some theory for you to digest...

You have to bear in mind is that they are all in quite different plant families, with subtly different requirements. By combining all three together you may not be able to provide them with the best conditions - it's could be a bit of a compromise, depending on your conditions.

The second issue is that if you want to minimise problems of soil-borne disease (say club root) crop rotation is advisable. This is going to be difficult if you are combining these plants because next year you need a plot which has not grown brassicas, onions or roots...

So, have a good think about your crop plan and your plant families and work out where these fit in.

[veg4681]

Your're sharp eyed as usual, trust you to pick up that one CC . I did wonder about having Onion, Root and Brassica thrown in together in one bed space. I could ditch Mrs Brassica with her clubroot woes, wouldn't that leave the soil requirements similar for the onion (Leeks) and root (Parsnips) veg as supposedly neither of them need richly manured/fertilised soil.

Sorry I didn't clarify this but I do intend to move these two veg around every year for crop rotation. The idea was just to set aside space for this two veg combination wherever part of the garden that I may have space for.

[Cutecumber]

Ah but Mrs Brassica is apparently much underrated and relatively easy to grow... and stands the cold well

So if you have leeks with parsnips (and after all we encourage putting onions with carrots, so why not) then you could move them to where some brassicas had previously grown, I guess. It sound like you are fortunate to have a good amount of space which makes things easier.

Oh, and I forgot to answer your question about leaving them in the ground - yes, they can be left to sit through the bad weather in most places. Parsnips (the work of the devil) are alleged to taste better after a frost... I'll let you decide

[Nicos]

Curly Kale is an easy brassica to grow- we are just about to pull our plants after a really good Autumn/Winter.
Why not set aside 3 small beds to rotate between themselves say 4'x 6' each- or bigger if you have room ?
( takes the thinking out of the rest of the rotation then!)

[veg4681]

Curly Kale is an easy brassica to grow- we are just about to pull our plants after a really good Autumn/Winter.
Why not set aside 3 small beds to rotate between themselves say 4'x 6' each- or bigger if you have room ?
( takes the thinking out of the rest of the rotation then!)

My existing raised bed is 13'x3' but I plan to dig up my lawn on either sides of this to give 5'x3' and 10'x3' beds. Could always split the bigger beds into two for crop rotation veg growing.

Based on the growing chart below, I think Leeks and Parsnips go so well together but I couldn't add to it Swede as it's Brassica which complicates things for me. However, Swede & Kale both Brassica could be another batch of the Leek & Parnips type of combination. Actually Kale & Chard go well together too with similar harvesting period and both can be 'cut n come again'.

Vegetable Sowing and Harvesting Times Chart

[milliebecks]

I usually put my leeks in where I've taken early potatoes out. Likewise with Kale and other brassicas that need transplanting/planting out. Wouldn't work for parsnips as they need to go in early and stay put.
Weather was so lousy last year though, things got shoved in wherever (was worried about passing on blight, flea beetle, bean weevil, rust, chocolate spot and every other bl@#*y thing) so plot ended up a real muddle (an offense to us 'left brain' types)
Still haven't had to buy any veg yet (except a butternut squash) so musn't complain too much. We only had two sprouts each for Christmas though LOL

[SarzWix]

I've got leeks, swedes & savoy cabbages growing in the same bed at the moment. They seem quite happy to grow together. To fit in with my rotation, they were grown in modules and planted out when I harvested my onions & garlic, so they've taken over the 'onion bed', next the bed will have plenty of compost added & will contain peas & beans, then next year sweetcorn, squashes etc. I think it's the best use of space, to keep all the overwintering crops together, although I don't include parsnips in here because they don't like my clay soil!

[diggerdelaney]

if you rotate your crop as you should it does not matter where you plant these veg because at the end of the day they will always take up the same amount of space up that is if you grow a 10' row of all three (30' total) then whether together or not they will always equal 30' hope you understand

[zazen999]

Hi
I put put leeks and parsnips and carrots in batches as different areas are freed up. this year I will be substituting the carrots with onions as I have built up higher carrot raised beds [so mini raised beds that sit within my usual raised beds]. That way, as the other crops are ending seasons, these grow to fill the space and have the ground when they are totally done. i just sprinkle seeds down and mark where I have put them.

Swedes are grown in the same way, again, year round. But I only grow swedes in the same soil that has already had brassicas that year; rather than spread them around the plot. this keeps 3 or 4 beds every year free of any brassicas every year. As the brocollis/cabbages are used and eaten during late summer, the swedes grow to fill the spaces as I get rid of the eaten stalks/roots.

I find that swedes grown from seeds sprinkled in late summer grow really fast and catch up and overtake many of those that are sown indoors and planted out during the spring. Leeks take forever, so i don't like devoting large swathes of ground to them; they have to grow in and amongst others until the winter when they get alot of the space to themselves.

[MURFE 18]

Hi, i plant my leeks in with celeriac, they seem to be ok eyes never had any problems , this year the celeriac is a bit small, but the leeks am fine.

[veg4681]

I think it's the best use of space, to keep all the overwintering crops together, although I don't include parsnips in here because they don't like my clay soil!

I so agree with you one this. Makes perfect sense doesn't it, although I haven't worked out how to do 'catching up in time' for the leeks and parsnips to take up space from another vegetables . Next year will be clearer for me.

I put put leeks and parsnips and carrots in batches as different areas are freed up. this year I will be substituting the carrots with onions

Sounds good to me too, the combination of leeks, parsnips and onions (although I don't think I have space for onions and as they're fairly low value crops, don't mind growing them in farm field with a bit of risk).

Swedes are grown in the same way, again, year round. But I only grow swedes in the same soil that has already had brassicas that year; rather than spread them around the plot. this keeps 3 or 4 beds every year free of any brassicas every year. As the brocollis/cabbages are used and eaten during late summer, the swedes grow to fill the spaces as I get rid of the eaten stalks/roots.

I find that swedes grown from seeds sprinkled in late summer grow really fast and catch up and overtake many of those that are sown indoors and planted out during the spring.

Thanks, that's the conclusion I had come to too but in my head, I imagine them going in together . Haven't worked out when they all go in!

In a bed of 10 feet by 3 feet I had worked out the Brassica allocation as follows:
Cauliflower 1 row = 4 cauliflowers
Broccoli (Autumn Spear) 1 row = 4 broccoli
Cabbage (Surprise F1) 1 row = 3 cabbages
Calabrese Sprouting Greens 1 row = 3 CSG
Kohl Rabi (Blusta) 1 row = 6 kohl rabi
Swede (Bora) 1 row = 4 swedes
Kale (Sutherland) 1 row = 3 kale
Purple Sprouting Broccoli 1 row = 3 PSB
No space for Brussel Sprouts!

I think somebody will tell me off to tell me that's impossible to squeeze all that !

if you rotate your crop as you should it does not matter where you plant these veg because at the end of the day they will always take up the same amount of space up that is if you grow a 10' row of all three

I still need to calculate how many vegetables per row and how many rows can be fitted per allocated bed space, at the moment it's looking like a minimum of 3 veg type/variety.

Hi, i plant my leeks in with celeriac, they seem to be ok eyes never had any problems

I gather celeriac is treated like your swede with similar growing and harvesting habit but I don't quite fancy celeriac...well got to eat it frist .