Monster Parsnips

How do! Long time since I last blogged but that is due to being very busy which isn't such a bad thing.

Last year I attempted growing parsnips in an upturned council compost bin. ( see earlier blog 'Parsnip Planting'). Well the results were very pleasing. I had to use a six feet long pinch bar in order to lever them out. The largest of the bunch fed my sister and her two girls twice. The next one down went to my mum and we ate three or four over the course of several weeks.

These three whoppers were the first out the bin.

I take a european size ten boot, so the biggest one is about 15 inches long.

Most big veg aren't as tasty as their smaller counterparts but the taste wasn't too bad at all.

It was a bit of a job getting them in the oven though.

So if you like your parsnips good and long try the system outlined in the earlier blog.

I found the end result quite satisfying.

The end result being a well heaped Sunday lunch plate.

Next up will be a rip roaring tail about the wierd and wonderful things I do with snails, weeds and ventilated dustbins. So stay tuned.

Go and get grubby.

Rain rain go away

This is beginning to really hack me off!
It has rained almost none stop since the
beginning of June, with only a few, very rare,
full days of sun in between.

Still, good for the veg. And pond life.
Heres the little veg plot with the back two rows
of spuds, spinach leaf, beetroot, lettuce mixed
and onions up front.



























This is the parsnip bin
looking fairly good
dont dare lift anything
yet far too early I
expect.
They are good looking
plants though.













lifted the first carrotts last week
very sweet and crunchy.
the bin beside it is Moroccan mint
for making tea.
As you can see I need to drink more tea.













This is Clematis Margot Koster clothing a Viburnum davidii.
Thats how clematis should be grown.














Looking back at the Montana
that I was zig zagging up some wires
on a fence earlier in the year,
It is covering the space
very nicely. Next year it should be
a wall of colour.














This Jasmin has been trained
the same way as the
Montana above using
the technique
described in my first blog,
'Training climbers'.







Despite the courting period being over and done with months ago
the frogs as always seem to enjoy spending the summer basking around the pond edge.













Newts also hang around for ever, this female smooth newt still full of eggs to be laid