Scrub that

Hard to compete with the uniformly straight and washed supermarket ones - time to get busy with a brush and some wire wool.

Big roots

Harvested some early parsnips that had self-seeded on a patch where the broad beans grew, which needed clearing to make way for some winter crops. Beetroot hasn't done brilliantly this year and there probably won't be enough for pickling, but there are always enough to brighten up a salad or stain a bowl of rice or couscous.

Return of the rootsman

Equinox eating

Architecturally significant

Growth forecast

Hot sun after the rain has meant that established plants, like spinach, chard, artichokes, parsnips, broad beans, strawberries, rhubarb, black and red currants, gooseberries and raspberries have put on loads of growth, but it's difficult to establish seedlings without attentive routine watering.



Weeds are growing well too, especially bindweed and poppies.



The tallest parsnip plants are running to seed and will be removed soon, but at the shady base there are lots of new seedlings for next winter.



The very last of the purple broccoli and white cauliflower shoots that heve been supplying the kitchen for the last few months. Time to sow some more.

Crops

Leeks

Onions

Parsnips

Spinach

Cauliflower

Roots Manoeuvred

P.P.S.

Back To My Roots

Finally, the ground has thawed enough to enable another parsnip harvest.

Ice Age Cometh

Despite the first harsh frost and sub-zero temperature, lobelia flowers are still hanging in there six months after being planted out, providing a smidgen of colour in an otherwise dormant and decaying garden.

The allotment yields a good supply of kale and winter greens and the ground is not yet too solid to harvest the last of the beetroot and some frost-sweetened parsnips.

Rootsman

Lobsnip

Parsnip masquerading as a lobster

Niebieski

OK class, pay attention. The Polish for blue is the same as the word for heavenly. Neat.

Lungful

What better way to spend the sunset hours after a busy day outside than listening to Richard James aka Aphex Twin as the featured artist on Stuart Maconie's BBC6 Music show. I've always particularly liked 'Acrid avid jam shred'.



Anyhow, back to the land.

Sowed :

Peas
Mangetout
Carrots
Parsnips
Fennel
Spinach
Butternut Squash

Sweet Peas
Sunflowers
Cosmos
Night Scented Stock

Planted Out :

Potatoes
Lupins
Peas

Harvested :

Kale
Chard
Spinach
Parsnips




Parsnips



Spinach



Kale (spent twenty minutes rearranging the nets on all the surviving brassicas)



Garlic's looking good



Daphne (not mine) is smelling divine - you can get the waft of the sweet citrus smell 20 metres away.



Opening at last this week.

Going Underground

That'll be leek and parsnips again then, what with everything overground being a bit frost bitten.

Shake A Leg

Snow's all gone, not everything's dead. The broccoli and kale might recover. Added some lime (calcium carbonate) to the soil for the first time, to reduce the acidity and enable better nutrient uptake.



Still a few bargain packets of seeds to be bought in the sales. Night scented stock is a particular favourite and some pink morning glory will look good winding its way up something.



Sowed some broad beans, parsnips and leeks indoors. Had some of this year's parsnips and leeks for lunch plus a few tiddly sprouts. Stewed plums and custard for pudding.



Potted up a few rosemary cuttings that have been standing in water for weeks and developed tap roots.

Forking roots

Looking more like an invading alien from War of the Worlds than a parsnip.

Fine Words Butter No Parsnips

Or... Fine Worms, Badgers & Parsnips



A marvelously bonkers expression, in use since the early 17th century, that seems to simultaneously suggest that root vegetables are best eaten with dairy produce and that bad news is bad news, no matter how you spin it.

Badgers, on the other hand, have no need for the butter dish and seem quite content to feast on parsnips straight from the ground, once they've worked their way through the more easily accessible sweetcorn and carrots.