How Dandelions Tell You When to Plant Parsnips

If you enjoyed this content, please like, share and/or subscribe to my KZbin channel. You can also check out my free audio podcast (maritimegarden... ) where I discuss how to grow healthy food the cheap and easy way!
Guess what? I'm now writing an article on gardening every week at maritimegarden...
Check it out !
Also, check out my sponsors, Veseys Seeds and Safers Gardening products.
Veseys Seeds (www.veseys.com) offers a Promo code (GAVS22) that allows you to get free shipping on items in their 2022 Seed Catalogue as long as one pack of seeds is included in the order. Free shipping is not applicable on surcharges on larger items. Promo code is valid from December 1, 2021 until November 30, 2022.
You can buy safers products from their website (www.saferbrand...), most stores that sells gardening products, and also from Veseys Seeds!
Want 10% of on a pruning saw or an axe or a knife?
Go to newfoundlandknife.ca and use my coupon code: MGP2022
If you like my content, why not check out my other KZbin channel:
"Outdoors on the Cheap".
/ @outdoorsonthecheap
If you want to subscribe to a good gardening magazine (in which I write articles from time to time), try "Canada's Local Gardener". Here's some discounts on subscription options.
1 year: bit.ly/1yrMarit...
2 year: bit.ly/2yrMarit...
3 year: bit.ly/3yrMarit...
Podcast: maritimegarden...
Facebook Page: / maritimegardening
Music: "pioneers" by Audionautix.com

[@smhollanshead]

I am frequently impressed with your powers of perception: When the green leaves of the dandelion appears, sow parsnips, spinach, lettuce, and arugula seed. When the yellow dandelion flower appears, plant carrots, broccoli, and potatoes. When the white puff ball dandelion flower appears, plant beans and squash. When the dandelion puff ball spreads its seeds, plant tomato, pepper, or other heat loving plants. Thank you for sharing your perceptions of nature. I could have gone a lifetime not seeing the nature that was right in front of me.

[@maritimegardening4887]

Thanks SM. Here's an article wrote going into much more detail about the "dandelion planting schedule": maritimegardening.substack.com/p/a-dandy-approach-to-planting-times#details

[@debbiecasalina4475]

Great information, I've got dandelions all over! Even though it's still cold here in TN, moved here 1 year ago from Florida, ready to move back, I'd be in the garden by now! No worries about the helicopter, we could still hear you! Thanks for the video! Have a green weekend!

[@edwinthompson6510]

Debbie from your comment is it true to say you have difficulties with gardening because of temperatures i livein Beverly Hills CA,,,, in the progress of moving near to Nashville TN,,,,, " is it a good idea" mmmm ok Debbie may you have happiness where ever you reside ,,,,God bless you,,,,,,,,Edwin J

[@Lochness19]

@@edwinthompson6510 I think Nashville is barely too cold to grow year round. Further south like south Georgia, you can grow a lot of frost tolerant crops through the winter. Here in Toronto, the season for warm weather crops (tomatoes, squash, cucumber, melons, peppers, figs) is late May to mid October roughly. For our cool weather crops, you can start sowing in late March, and they can hold up in the cold into December, although they won't grow much once you reach December. My guess is that Nashville is somewhere in between. Warm weather crops have maybe an extra 2-3 weeks on either side of the growing season and cool weather crops have an extra 4-6 weeks on either side of the growing season? You should still be able to do stuff in the winter though, like planning, pruning bushes, starting seeds indoors, composting, building new beds, etc.

[@edwinthompson6510]

@@Lochness19 Nicolas thanks for your info and may i say ,,,,,,thanks for your time lots to consider living in Beverly Hills where its growing temps all year round,,,,,,,Ed

[@gardingyrl3501]

Good to know about 4 stages of dandelions, never heard that before

[@aporter701]

It's Apr.10,pm.& I have been wanting to get all this down for some time. I am a 79 y.o.farm raised fellow living in west central Ark.who has been gardening the 'old fashioned' way all my grown life. It's an activity I dearly love, however, due to aging, I'm finding I am having to change the way I do several things. I stumbled across your channel awhile back & found we think alike in a lot of ways. I have to say,the concepts you present are sensible and are helping me revamp my gardening habits!! 👍👍🤠

[@maritimegardening4887]

Thanks so much - that's quiet a complement coming from someone with your experience :)

[@davetyler3314]

We live near an Air Force Reserve base, and we have tankers and jets fly over our house and it can be very noisy but thank God they are there protecting us. I think timing planting with dandelions is a great method...Thank you

[@scrappyquilter102]

Lots of good quality content in this Greg. Timing planting with dandelions. Who'd -a- thought!

[@cynthiacollins2668]

Phenology! My new word! The only sign I've ever been told is to "plant corn when oak leaves are the size mouse ears". I will be subscribing to learn more phenology!

[@maritimegardening4887]

Thanks. Here's more on that: maritimegardening.com/2023/04/133-when-to-plant-vegetables-according-to-the-dandelion/ maritimegardening.substack.com/p/a-dandy-approach-to-planting-times

[@ritzileclaire5990]

I never knew that about when to plant the potatoes. Worth the price of admission right there. Cheers!

[@maritimegardening4887]

Thanks

[@terrymacleod6882]

first time hearing about the dandelion as soil temp. indicator. would really like to hear you expand on that subject . thanks greg.

[@maritimegardening4887]

Sure thing!

[@averagejoe-annecanadian291]

Don’t mind your streaming thought process while you garden at all. We Enjoy all the directions your unscripted commentating travels along. Great show! Go maritimers.

[@rosesez3428]

Love the old-timed wisdom here. Will be using the humble yet noble dandelion as my indicator of what to plant, when. Wow cool about the side of house thing! Maybe post a list for your viewers with more plant 🌱 indicator signs too?

[@maritimegardening4887]

Thanks

[@williamchamberlin2752]

Thanks for the tips on dandelions Greg. I will be paying lots more attention to them from now on, great video!

[@maritimegardening4887]

Any time!

[@austenhead5303]

"I'd get some footage of it, but I'm sure you all know what a helicopter looks like." I fu**ing love gardeners. Priorities firmly in order. If it were a troublesome garden pest or a noteworthy veggie variety, I'm betting we'd get allllll the footage. Good man, there.

[@laurahockman6341]

I’m excited to be able to plant parsnips & other root crops this year! I’ve moved to containers & garden boxes to combat the voles & tree roots!!! Last year all my root crops got decimated by the voles! 🤬 Parsnips are my favorite too!

[@Consequence]

I love the format of these videos!

[@maritimegardening4887]

Thanks

[@Jennifer-hj5rw]

Wow, that helped a lot !! regarding the dandelion. makes so much sense. Thank you

[@maritimegardening4887]

Glad it was helpful!

[@gordonreed248]

I have flowering dandelions on the south face of my home. The garden that I mulched with about 8 inches of leaves last fall has both soft neck garlic well under way and my rhubarb plants have their first leaves breaking the surface of the mulch and are so far about 3 inches across of green showing. 2 days ago I planted sweet peas next to a chicken wire fence and hope to see them up soon. Daytime temperatures have been varying between highs of 35F(2C) and 65F(18C). Night time lows have been from about 5 degrees below freezing and 5 degrees above freezing. I caught your pruning advice for fall fruiting raspberries and sure enough mine had plenty of leaves on them so I took them off at the ground. My self seeded blackberries are well leafed out and I must have missed some canes last fall because I have 2 new rooted canes that I need to remove completely. I very much like blackberries to eat but am not a fan of how they take over. My new fruit tree whips went in the ground yesterday and I have planted seed for eastern red bud trees following the "tree trios" approach that Stephan Sobkowiac promotes on his Miracle Farms videos on KZbin. I still need to decide what to use to fill in the lower tiers of that planting.

[@margaretdale7186]

Sorry to miss if you there were anymore plants coming up you were showing us with camera dead. I grew lemon balm and sorrel first time last year and very excited to see them back up. Waiting to see if the sunchoke comes back or if the lemon balm crowded it out.

[@Angellinie]

You're giving me hope for starting a garden in Cape Breton. A Gardner with no garden I am. Cheers.

[@maritimegardening4887]

You can do it Angellinie !

[@juliemacdonald9243]

Just picked some parsnips that wintered in my garden. When they kept growing this spring I wasn’t even sure that’s what it was. Roasted some last night for supper. They were delicious!

[@joshuahoyer1279]

We dont have a ton of dandelions in our yard (the missus digs them up because she doesn't want them taking over), but we do have tons of daffodils, which give us a great early indication that planting time has begun! They come out right after our crocuses.

[@DsHomeyGarden]

Peas and Peepers...a winning combination. Great timing 👏,I'm planting my peas this weekend. Also....GREAT LEARNING.

[@renatehaeckler9843]

Wow, I had no idea you could plant seeds that early! I usually wait for April 1 before direct sowing anything and this year it seemed really cold so I started today. I did notice, tho, that some bok choy seeds that I scattered last fall are coming up now. I may try your trick of planting in the fall so they come up in the spring. The original "winter sowing", eh?

[@maritimegardening4887]

You bet!

[@patjoyce7247]

I’m in West Norfolk UK, bit further ahead in the season here, seems like only a week or so, but I noticed bright yellow dandelions for about a week. Great rule of thumb.👍🏾

[@tanjamakesvideos]

Thanks for the ‘sign of the dandelion’ vids, watched peas, parsnips, and went to find my seeds. Will wait til tomorrow’s NS weather event is over. As always, appreciate the Vessey’s discount!

[@maritimegardening4887]

So nice of you

[@Elaine-Williams]

Very interesting. Thanks 🌱

[@franksinatra1070]

That bed should give you a lot of parsnips. Thanks for the reminder on them. I'm going to get some in next week but I think I'll go with a block instead of rows and thin appropriately as they come up.

[@IS-217]

HEY THERE! Great tip with the dandelions! I will definitely use this as a springtime planting guide. Nature is the best teacher isn't it? I have no problems with rambling on about random thoughts. This is when the genius comes out. (light bulb!) lol Thanks for sharing. Happy gardening!

[@maritimegardening4887]

Thanks

[@russellmacneil4058]

Hey ✌️,from Cape Breton

[@marksexton1340]

So here in SoCal, I've made plastic domes for starting lettuce and spinach. I've now had tobmake a frame with netting for all my beds, due to the birds ate all, of my lettuce, spinach and yes my parsnips... So I am on round two of planting...

[@maritimegardening4887]

I don't understand why you are using domes for lettuce and spinach in SoCal at this time of year. I use them here because it is still cold most days and often below freezing at night. Where you are it's nowhere near that cold at night and certainly warm enough for those plants during the day. I'm also curious to know what kind of birds are eating your plants.

[@marksexton1340]

@@maritimegardening4887 I used them back at the beginning of March, and it was still freezing at night, we are in the high desert of SoCal, so we get weird weather.

[@BridiesMammaG]

Put 8 lettuces out yesterday..2 completely gone..Doming everything with water bottle tops now..Hearbreaking..My tiny garden has more crestures than a Disney Movie

[@phyconinga]

Cool to see your progress on the pond.

[@shellymcclumpha8236]

Not planting anything yet as still snow in my garden. Just wanted to say thanks for the inspiration to garden !! I have garlic up and it is only because I found your channel

[@maritimegardening4887]

Wonderful!

[@ccityshep]

Another great video, Thank you for taking the extra time in your garden to make them. I really like how you show the work instead of just preaching from your desk as so many so called gardening channels just spew the same repetative garbage. I have not noticed any dandilion's in my yard yet but have direct seeded some radishes and bunching onions last week and have fall planted garlic pushing thru the mulch already. It's going to be in the 70's today followed by freezing temps and possible snow this week in our wonderful Colorado spring time so I have to resist the temptation to plant warmer season crops for a bit but can take advantage of these warm days to get more beds ready for when the weather levels out.

[@maritimegardening4887]

Thanks!

[@friend757]

I am thankful to know the dandelion planting rule of thumb.

[@leagarner3675]

This is one of my favorite videos on KZbin. :)

[@maritimegardening4887]

Wow, thanks!

[@lynner1770]

This is great info!

[@maritimegardening4887]

Glad it was helpful!

[@dirtpatcheaven]

Thank you for this great information!

[@maritimegardening4887]

Glad it was helpful!

[@Lochness19]

I think in my garden, the time we get our first crocus flowers on the south side of the house is a good time to start the first cold hardy seeds. This year the crocus flowers started blooming on March 20 here near Toronto. I sowed my parsnip even earlier, on March 10, right when the soil first thawed to a depth of 4 inches, and when tulip bulbs, garlic, sorrel, etc started to grow. I sowed a bunch of other things around March 16-21. The parsnip hasn't germinated yet, but the spinach, radish, turnip, lettuce, corn salad and mustard greens have. I bought the parsnip seeds in May of 2021 though, and it seems parsnip seeds aren't viable very long, so maybe I'll have to buy new ones. I'll give them a couple more weeks though since there are still other things like carrot and root parsley that also haven't germinated yet.

[@Monkchip]

This was a great video! I need to get planting some cold weather crop seeds. You have great soil conditions in your humongous gardens, and I'm amazed how well that garlic w/the grass clippings on top grew up right through it! Do you grow mushrooms, or forage?

[@maritimegardening4887]

I do a bit of foraging, but I've not yet tried mushrooms

[@vmcshannon]

Thanks for the video Greg. And thanks for the newsletter in my email. I look forward to them all. 👍

[@maritimegardening4887]

You bet!

[@KateMedland]

Wonderful video. Off to look for dandelion! Thanks for the great tips. I just noticed my rhubarb starting to poke up here on Cape Breton Island! I have some little yellow dandelion like flowers open today, but don't know what they are. Parsnip week! And the first of nut tree seeds are going in... 1000 to plant, so it will be a multi week process!

[@maritimegardening4887]

the little yellow dandelion like flowers are probably colt foot - they flower this time of year.

[@KateMedland]

@@maritimegardening4887 thanks! That's what it is. I had guessed an aster of some sort, and looks like coltsfoot is in the aster family. Thanks again Greg!

[@lynnchastain8224]

I had butter cup pop up this week

[@luckychicav7981]

Hello Greg, parsnips are something I’ve never grown or tasted. I don’t really have much planting room left this season, maybe in grow bags, I have some new ones. I would like to just try and see. I’m going to be honest I don’t even think our produce department even carry them just so I can try them. I’m going to go get some seed and give it a whirl. Thank you!😉

[@maritimegardening4887]

I can't recall where you live other than I think it's somewhere hot. Parsnips need a frost to improve the flavour - so if there's no frost where you are they will not turn out good.

[@luckychicav7981]

m.kzbin.info/www/bejne/p6KldKioiNx-ac0 Did you enjoy the song? ☺️I’m in Texas. We do get a few cold weeks I would sow them depending on maturity, to harvest after January? Maybe, if not a threat of going to seed or something like that, something to try and learn anyway. Thank you. 😉

[@robertaaOHIO]

Hi Greg, I received your articles via email, and have been reading them. Well done!

[@maritimegardening4887]

Awesome, thank you!

[@grantraynard]

Love the live action videos !!

[@maritimegardening4887]

More to come!

[@margaretdale7186]

Not quite on topic. I decide to split my sorrel (new last year) to use some to fill in a shady area - not a garden spot. I was digging around, digging around, not really finding roots. Pulled up a piece that had a foot and a half long tap root - poor guy got transplanted into a hole 1/3 what he needed. He seemed to come along with some baby plants he sent out so I planted those separate. I did not know sorrel was a tap root kind of plant. No wonder it comes back. I guess sorrel should be planted where you really want it for sure! Have you tried to move sorrel? Have you seen roots like this? I am growing in 2ft high raised beds so it the sorrel did have pretty easy soil to work through.

[@maritimegardening4887]

It sends down amazing roots for sure!

[@DsHomeyGarden]

Hey Greg. Jeepers....creepers....we're hearing the peepers. Have you determined whether the slug issues are less when you leave the mulch off new seedlings or the same as mulched. I have always wondered, but I have not tried. Interesting. I love the pond. Ain't it great having it right there. I have one in my garden area as well. Thanks again,

[@maritimegardening4887]

It's worse with the mulch. Slugs love the mulch - that that being said, there's still enough slugs to wreck everything without the mulch :) Can't win man.

[@NewYorkJennifer]

Interesting about the dandelion, I've heard about the potato aspect, but not the others. Funny about the helicopter! I know what you mean, I'm near Fort Drum (US Army) and get the same thing .

[@maritimegardening4887]

Sometimes I think they're coming for me :)

[@MrVjay70]

I'm waiting for my dandelions to pop up here in Maine

[@scott1122]

Garlic I think can find its way thru lots of mulch’s

[@jayjessome1821]

👍👍

[@aporter701]

Hello,Greg. With no experience with parsnips,the pk.states to soak the seeds before planting. Question: is that necessarily true? The old gardener in Ark. Thanks Art.

[@maritimegardening4887]

I've never done that - so I wouldn't bother

[@agnesgarnett4414]

I have a question. Why can we put a seed in the garden bed with the existing soil but if we start seeds we need seed starter soil?

[@jdp6ofus]

For us, with sandy clay, if we put garden soil in a pot to start seeds, it compacts so tightly the veggie seeds have trouble growing and water won't drain so the seeds rot. Also, unless we heat treat the soil to kill the weed seeds and some mildews and funguses, the weeds will grow before the veggie seeds do or if the veggies start growing, sometime they get diseases and die. Seed starting mix has peat moss or other ingredients that hold moisture, but still drains and is sterile, eliminating all those problems we have when trying to start seeds in pots. I do, however, mix my native soil with compost and peat moss to start some seeds that I know won't have issues with any of the problems I mentioned. You still have weeds in the garden and fungus, mold out mildew, but usually the sun, exposure to fresh air as and the soil being much looser than in a pot keto you from having as much trouble starting seeds outside. But then you have the bugs, mice, voles and birds after the seeds or seedlings to fight.... Sigh

[@maritimegardening4887]

If your asking about transplants - seed starter soil has an ideal NPK for seedlings - and it's also not full of thousands of organisms and fungi - -so it does better indoors.

[@AMKB01]

I missed the name when you said it; what software do you use to make your videos?

[@maritimegardening4887]

"Movavi"

[@AMKB01]

@@maritimegardening4887 Thank you!