Plant · P-251

Parsnip

Pastinaca sativa

Parsnip is a Texas-grown root crop with two uses beyond the root that most gardeners never think to take: its umbels, left to bolt in a second year, draw hoverflies and predatory wasps that hunt aphids, and its leaves and root make an effective homemade spray against aphids and spider mites. The root itself sweetens after a hard frost - or two weeks in a refrigerator, since it is cold rather than soil that turns starch to sugar - and the young leaves and shoots cook as a vegetable while the seed flavours like dill. The one real hazard is handling, not eating: the sap causes a sunlight-triggered skin reaction strong enough to blister in summer sun, so bolted plants get cut with gloves and long sleeves, never bare-armed on a bright day.