Sowing Parsnips and Saladings

Today was cloudy but pleasant nonetheless so I thought I’d get the afternoon on the plot. So just before I left, the phone went and a lovely couple of hours of productive gardening was spent paying the mortgage. I suppose I shouldn’t complain.

Down to the plot around 4pm after checking the greenhouse and cold frame at home, watering a bit where required. First job at the plot was the same.

The Salad Bed

The deep bed up at the top of plot 29 is where I’m putting the salads this year. One thing I really love is spring onions. Nothing like a decent hot spring onion with strong cheddar cheese in my book.

One onion I’ve discovered is North Holland Blood Red. Unlike normal spring onions, it is red in colour and if you just leave them in the ground they bulb up. You sow them fairly thinly and pull from the bunches leaving the rest to bulb or just eating when they’re ready. They are described as mild but I would say they are fairly strong. Then again, anything you grow yourself has more taste than the supermarket offerings.

Next a row of the standard White Lisbon onion followed by French Breakfast 3 Radish and a row of the new Thompson & Morgan Rainbow Mixed multicoloured radishes. I’d got a pack of radish free with a magazine that I really don’t need so gave them to Janice on plot 28. I hate waste and if she can use them, great.

The last section of the bed got lettuce.Half got a scattering of Lollo Rossa Lettuce and the other half got a selection of chervil, lambs lettuce and Merveille des Quatre Saisons from a mixture pack There were some chicory as well in the mixture pack but we don’t really like the bitterness so I gave them to Janice as well.

There’s a few of these mixed leaf collections on my lettuce seed page if you’re interested.

Beetroot and Turnips

Now I must admit that I’m not keen on beetroot at all, but Val likes them so on the final free small deep bed I sowed a cross row (3 feet) of beetroot Baby Solist (Wilko) and a row of  Detroit Crimson Globe so Madam has a choice!

I then sowed a couple of rows of turnips. The first was a heritage variety , Golden Ball  and the second was Oasis which boasts that it uniquely tastes like melon!

Row of Parsnips

Last task was to sow a row of parsnips. Parsnips are notorious for poor germination so I sowed fairly thickly into a ten foot row on the main bed, watering the row first then lightly covering the seeds before watering again with a rose on the can to ensure they are well soaked.

Having half a pack over, I donated those to Pete Glastonbury 10 (on the forums) as parsnip seeds do not store. If you have a half packet left over, I’m afraid it’s useless. They store perfectly well in the vacuum sealed packets but not at all once opened. The variety was Avonresister which is very resistant to canker and I’ve done well with them before.

I’ve still got a pack of Javelin but they’re going onto plot 5. I like to run the plots independantly in case of failure. Javelin have been awarded the RHS Award of Garden Merit, our equivalent of the American ‘All America Selections’ only better, of course!

Back home just after seven. Good news is that the fine weather is set to continue according to the weathermen.