Albion F1 Hybrid Parsnip Seeds

Days to Maturity: 120

A Royal Horticulture Society Award of Garden Merit

Albion F1 Hybrid is an all-around improvement for the parsnip family, bringing this vegetable into the gardens and onto the plates of more people than ever before. Give it a try this season and see what all the fuss is about. We think you'll be beguiled by its ease of growth and fabulous sweet flavor.

Albion is a parsnip with complex flavor, more succulent texture, and heavier sugars than older varieties. And luckily you will be able to judge its superiority for yourself, over and over again, because the canker-resistant plants are very heavy yielding.

These parsnips reach 8 to 10 inches long, filled right to the tip with sugary goodness. Their skin is a lighter shade of ivory than others, and keeps its color well after harvest. These roots are straight and very uniform, making them easy to store.

Like all parsnips, Albion needs a cold period to mature its flavor—this is usually the fall in northern regions and the winter farther south and west. Frost brings out the sweetness in the roots.

Albion is a vigorous plant, reaching about 18 inches high and wide. Direct-sow the seeds in mid-winter through early spring for harvest from early fall through late winter. Thin the seedlings to 8 inches apart in the garden. You can hold the harvest underground in cold weather, but be sure to dig up the parsnips before the plant flowers, or they will become tough and woody.

This plant needs good soil drainage and full sun; like carrots, it appreciates well-worked, light soil for straightest and truest production of its root crop. Other than that, it needs no special attention, and is so easy that even a beginning gardener can be successful. Germination can take up to a month, but is not especially difficult; if you are patient, you will be richly rewarded by Albion. And if you have grown parsnips before, expect a much higher germination rate from Albion than from all others.