Oregon · Washington · Idaho
When to plant parsnips
Plant in the garden: Portland and Seattle Mar 15 – Apr 26; Spokane Apr 15 – May 27; Boise Apr 1 – May 13; Bend May 12 – Jun 23.
Your dates in
Parsnips are a long, cream-colored root in the carrot family, sweeter and nuttier than carrots, roasted, mashed or added to soups and stews. They take most of the growing season, around four months, to size up. Wear gloves when handling the leaves on sunny days: parsnip sap can cause skin burns in sunlight.
Puts parsnips on your free plan, with dates for your town and a spot in your beds.
- Difficulty
- Moderate
- Sun
- Full sun
- Spacing
- Thin to 3 to 4 inches apart
- Planting depth
- ½ inch deep
- Frost
- Handles light frost
- First harvest
- About 120 days after planting
Slow to sprout and slow to grow, but nearly carefree after that. Use fresh seed every year, and leave the roots in the ground until after a few frosts: cold turns their starch to sugar.
Parsnip planting dates
| Towns | Plant in the garden |
|---|---|
| Portland, OR, Seattle and Tacoma, WA | Mar 15 – Apr 26 |
| Spokane, WA | Apr 15 – May 27 |
| Boise and Meridian, ID, Astoria, OR | Apr 1 – May 13 |
| Bend and Redmond, OR | May 12 – Jun 23 |
Dates for six main cities. For any of the other 80 towns, type it in the box at the top of the page or browse all towns.
| Gresham, OR, Oregon City and West Linn, OR, Portland, OR, St. Helens and Scappoose, OR, Wilsonville and Canby, OR | Mar 15 – Apr 26 |
|---|---|
| Hillsboro and Beaverton, OR | Mar 19 – Apr 30 |
| Corvallis and Albany, OR, Eugene, OR, Salem, OR | Mar 15 – Apr 26 |
|---|---|
| Cottage Grove, OR | Mar 27 – May 8 |
| McMinnville and Newberg, OR | Mar 18 – Apr 29 |
| Ashland and Talent, OR | Apr 8 – May 20 |
|---|---|
| Grants Pass, OR, Medford, OR, Roseburg, OR | Mar 15 – Apr 26 |
| Astoria, OR, Brookings and Gold Beach, OR, Coos Bay and North Bend, OR, Newport and Lincoln City, OR, Tillamook, OR | Apr 1 – May 13 |
|---|
| Bend and Redmond, OR, Klamath Falls, OR | May 12 – Jun 23 |
|---|---|
| Burns, OR | May 14 – Jun 25 |
| Lakeview, OR | May 7 – Jun 18 |
| Madras, OR | Apr 21 – Jun 2 |
| Prineville, OR | May 4 – Jun 15 |
| Baker City, OR | Apr 27 – Jun 8 |
|---|---|
| Enterprise and Joseph, OR | Apr 26 – Jun 7 |
| Hermiston, OR, Hood River, OR, Ontario, OR, Pendleton, OR, The Dalles, OR | Apr 1 – May 13 |
| John Day, OR | Apr 30 – Jun 11 |
| La Grande, OR | Apr 15 – May 27 |
| Bremerton and Port Orchard, WA, Everett, WA, Kent, Renton and Auburn, WA, Seattle and Tacoma, WA | Mar 15 – Apr 26 |
|---|---|
| Olympia, WA | Apr 1 – May 13 |
| Shelton, WA | Mar 30 – May 11 |
| Anacortes, WA, Bellingham, WA, Friday Harbor and the San Juans, WA, Mount Vernon and Burlington, WA, Oak Harbor and Whidbey Island, WA | Mar 15 – Apr 26 |
|---|
| Aberdeen and Hoquiam, WA, Forks, WA, Long Beach and Ilwaco, WA | Apr 1 – May 13 |
|---|---|
| Port Angeles, WA, Port Townsend, WA | Mar 15 – Apr 26 |
| Sequim, WA | Mar 24 – May 5 |
| Centralia and Chehalis, WA | Mar 25 – May 6 |
|---|---|
| Longview and Kelso, WA, Vancouver, WA | Mar 15 – Apr 26 |
| Chelan, WA, Wenatchee, WA | Apr 1 – May 13 |
|---|---|
| Leavenworth, WA, Omak and Okanogan, WA | Apr 15 – May 27 |
| Winthrop and Twisp, WA | Apr 17 – May 29 |
| Ellensburg, WA | Apr 15 – May 27 |
|---|---|
| Ephrata and Quincy, WA, Moses Lake, WA, Tri-Cities (Pasco, Kennewick, Richland), WA, Walla Walla, WA | Apr 1 – May 13 |
| Goldendale, WA | Apr 21 – Jun 2 |
| Sunnyside, Grandview and Prosser, WA | Apr 3 – May 15 |
| Yakima, WA | Apr 10 – May 22 |
| Colville, WA, Pullman, WA, Spokane, WA | Apr 15 – May 27 |
|---|
| Bonners Ferry, ID, Coeur d'Alene and Post Falls, ID, Sandpoint, ID | Apr 15 – May 27 |
|---|
| Lewiston, ID | Apr 1 – May 13 |
|---|---|
| Moscow, ID | Apr 15 – May 27 |
| Boise and Meridian, ID, Nampa and Caldwell, ID | Apr 1 – May 13 |
|---|---|
| Emmett, ID | Apr 2 – May 14 |
| McCall, ID | May 25 – Jul 6 |
| Burley and Rupert, ID, Idaho Falls, ID, Pocatello, ID, Rexburg, ID, Twin Falls, ID | Apr 15 – May 27 |
|---|---|
| Salmon, ID | Apr 19 – May 31 |
Parsnip year at a glance
| Task | J | F | M | A | M | J | J | A | S | O | N | D |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Plant | Mar | Apr | ||||||||||
| Harvest | Jan | Feb | Mar | Oct | Nov | Dec |
Around Portland. Colder towns, especially east of the Cascades, run a few weeks later; the table above has your town's planting dates.
How to grow parsnips
- Prepare the bed: loosen the soil and mix in an inch or two of compost.
- Plant seeds on your city's dates, ½ inch deep, Thin to 3 to 4 inches apart.
- Keep the soil evenly moist until sprouts appear, which can take one to three weeks in cool soil.
- Harvest: Dig roots from late fall through winter, after a few frosts have sweetened them. West of the Cascades they can stay in the ground until early spring.
Growing parsnips in your part of the Northwest
The same plant behaves differently on the wet west side, the foggy coast and the dry, colder east side.
West-side valleys
Willamette Valley, Puget Sound, southern Oregon
Parsnips are slow to sprout, so keep the soil moist for up to three weeks. Many gardeners leave them in the ground and dig through winter, since frost sweetens them.
Coast
Oregon and Washington coast
Parsnips grow well in the long, cool season, and sandy soils give straight roots.
East of the Cascades
Columbia Basin, Yakima, Boise, Spokane, north Idaho
Dry wind crusts the soil surface, so keep the seedbed moist until seedlings appear. Mulch the row heavily if you leave roots in over winter.
High desert and mountain towns
Central Oregon, high eastern Oregon valleys, McCall, Salmon
Parsnips handle cold well and get sweeter after frost. Mulch them if you plan to harvest after the ground starts freezing.
More parsnip varieties
More widely sold picks that do well somewhere in the Northwest. The tag says which part of the Northwest suits each one best.
Hollow Crown
A long-grown heirloom with smooth, white, tapered roots and sweet flavor after frost. It needs deep, loose soil to reach full length.
Both sides
Harris Model
Clean, white roots with smooth skin and fine-grained, sweet flesh. A reliable standard that stores well in the ground through west-side winters.
Both sides
Gladiator
A vigorous hybrid with smooth, uniform roots that sprouts more evenly than most and resists parsnip canker. A good choice for first-time growers.
Both sides
Javelin
Long, slender roots with good canker resistance and sweet flavor. Its narrow shape suits heavier soils a little better than wide-shouldered types.
Both sides
How much to grow
How many to plant
For a family of four, a 10- to 15-foot row.
What to expect
About 1 pound per foot of row.
Storing the harvest
Leave them in the ground and dig as needed on the west side. Dug roots keep two to four months in the fridge.
What to plant after parsnips
Around Portland, the parsnip harvest wraps up around March. These crops can still go into the same bed, and they come from a different plant family, which helps with rotation.
- Peas Mar 1 – Apr 12
- Radishes Mar 1 – Apr 26
- Spinach Mar 1 – Apr 5
- Lettuce Mar 1 – Apr 26
- Onions Mar 1 – Apr 5
- Arugula Mar 1 – Apr 12
- Bok choy Mar 1 – Apr 5
- Turnips Mar 1 – Apr 12
Peas 
Radishes 
Spinach 
Lettuce 
Onions 
Arugula 
Bok choy 
Turnips Portland dates. Pick your town at the top of the page for yours.
Key numbers
- 14–28Days to sprout
- 110–130Days to harvest
- About 1 yearSeed life
- Poor sproutingBiggest risk
Top care tip: Keep the bed moist the whole time until seedlings appear, which can take two to four weeks.
Growing notes
What makes the difference in Northwest gardens, in plain language.
Getting parsnips to sprout
Most parsnip failures happen before the seedlings appear. The seed is short-lived, so buy fresh seed every year. It takes two to four weeks to sprout in cool spring soil, and the bed has to stay moist the whole time. A light board or burlap laid over the row, lifted as soon as you see green, helps keep the surface from crusting.
Sow a few radish seeds in the same row. They come up fast, mark where the row is and break the crust for the slower parsnips.
Soil for long roots
Parsnips grow a root 8 to 12 inches long, so they need deep, loose soil with no rocks or lumps of fresh manure, which cause forked roots. Raised beds or deeply dug soil work best in heavy Northwest clay. They're not heavy feeders; well-rotted compost dug in before sowing is enough.
Frost, sweetness and winter storage
Parsnips are a long-season crop meant to be dug after cold weather arrives. A few frosts turn their stored starch into sugar, and the roots get much sweeter. West of the Cascades, just leave them in the ground and dig as needed through winter. East of the Cascades, mulch the row heavily with straw so the ground doesn't freeze solid, or dig and store them in a cold, humid fridge drawer.
Wear gloves and long sleeves when handling the leaves on sunny days: the sap can make skin blister when it's exposed to sunlight.
Good neighbors and crop rotation
Good neighbors
- Radishes. Sow a few with parsnip seed. They mark the row while the slow parsnips sprout.
- Onions. Narrow leaves that share the bed well.
Carrot family: Carrots, parsnips, celery, parsley, dill and cilantro share pests. Carrot rust fly pupae overwinter in the soil where last year's carrots grew, so plant the next crop as far away as your garden allows and rotate on a three-year cycle.
Pests and problems
What most often goes wrong with parsnips in Northwest gardens, how to spot it and what to do.
Poor sprouting
Signs: Few seedlings after weeks.
What to do: Use fresh seed each year and keep the bed moist for up to four weeks.
Carrot rust fly
Signs: Rusty tunnels in the roots.
What to do: Insect netting and rotating beds.
Sap burns
Signs: Rashes or blisters after handling leaves on a sunny day.
What to do: Wear gloves and long sleeves when working around the leaves.
Common questions about growing parsnips
When should I plant parsnips in Oregon, Washington and Idaho?
Plant in the garden: Mar 15 – Apr 26 in Portland and Seattle, Apr 15 – May 27 in Spokane, Apr 1 – May 13 in Boise and May 12 – Jun 23 in Bend. Pick your town at the top of the page for your own dates.
Why didn't my parsnips come up?
Usually old seed or a seedbed that dried out during the long sprouting time. Use seed packed for this year and keep the surface moist for up to four weeks.
When should I dig parsnips?
From late fall onward, after a few frosts. In mild west-side gardens they can stay in the ground until early spring, when they start to regrow.
Why are my parsnips forked?
Rocks, hard soil or fresh manure in the bed. Loosen the soil deeply and use only well-aged compost.
See what else to plant in March or April.
Carrots
Beets
Potatoes
Sweet potatoes