I need to try them again this year and leave them in the ground... last year they grew okay for me, but then DH was helping clean up the garden and dug the carrots, beets and parsnips before i could tell him to leave the parsnips alone (hopefully golf season will last longer and he won't be so antsy this year
). Then, my fault -- they were in a bucket in the garage and I never "got around" to taking care of them, and they got pretty limp, so the deer profited.