Parsnip Tender & True – three cream parsnips on a pale wooden surface

Parsnip Tender & True

£1.90
Skip to product information
Parsnip Tender & True – three cream parsnips on a pale wooden surface
RHS Award of Garden Merit

Parsnip Tender & True

Pastinaca sativa 'Tender and True'

An 1887 heritage parsnip with long, smooth, nearly coreless roots and the best flavour of any we grow. Leave it in the ground until frost has sweetened it.

£1.90

Free UK delivery on seed orders over £40

Dispatched from our Norfolk farm — Royal Mail, usually within one working day.

Your growing year

Sow, plant out and harvest months for this variety

Jan
Feb
Mar
Apr
May
Jun
Jul
Aug
Sep
Oct
Nov
Dec
Sow
Plant out
Harvest
SowPlant outHarvest

At a glance

Height
60cm (foliage)
Spread
30cm
Spacing
15cm
Position
Full sun, open ground.
Seeds per packet
400
Soil
Deep, stone-free, well-prepared. NOT freshly manured.
Grow guide How to grow Parsnip Tender & True Read the full guide →

About this variety

The British heritage parsnip whose name says exactly what makes it worth growing. A kitchen garden standard since the 1930s, holding an RHS Award of Garden Merit for the three things that separate a good parsnip from an ordinary one: long smooth roots, real sweetness, and resistance to canker.

Tender refers to the flesh, which is fine-grained throughout with none of the woody core that spoils older varieties. True refers to its consistency — straight, even, well-formed roots rather than the forked specimens parsnips so often produce.

Leave them in the ground until after the first hard frost. Below freezing the starches convert to sugar and the flavour deepens to something quite different from an autumn-lifted root. They will stand all winter, improving with every cold snap, so lift as you need them into March.

Plant alongside

Chosen by us, not by an algorithm

RHS Award of Garden Merit

The RHS Award of Garden Merit is given to plants of outstanding excellence for ordinary garden use. To earn this award a plant must be of good constitution, available to the gardening public, and perform reliably across a range of UK growing conditions. It is one of the most trusted plant recommendations in British gardening and a genuine mark of quality.

Learn more at RHS.org.uk →