The ground has finally defrosted

[theabsinthefairy]

....... so I went out to have a bit of a scavenge about to see what if anything was left after the geese had thoroughly dug the patch over during the last couple of months and I got the basket below!!!

Very happy..



Parsnip soup, parsnip chips all round, and a good dozen large sized onions too.

[Rosendula]

Your parsnips look like mine Not like the poxy ones in the pictures on the front of seed packets. They're pathetic. We grow 'proper parsnips'

[theabsinthefairy]

Yeah - 1 parsnip to feed a family of 4 for 2 days!!! Thay may take time to germinate but by golly they grow and grow and grow!

[Loobyloo]

geez, thats a monster parsnip!! It looks like its going to claw its way off the pile, consuming everything in its path!

[Shirley]

Yum! A nice collection.

[Millymollymandy]

Mine are mammoth parsnips too, though I think the mice have probably eaten them all by now.

What kind of onions are those that you leave in the ground through the winter?

[theabsinthefairy]

The forgotten kind!!!!!!!!!!

[Millymollymandy]

Oh right! Well it's good to know they're hardy.

[becks77]

What's the secret please mine did zip this year

[theabsinthefairy]

Do you mean the secret to parsnips?

I prepared a lovely deep double dug plot, and then planted something else in there!!!

I germinated some seeds on a paper towel - forgot what they were and threw them away! Then I planted some more in paper toilet rolls and transplanted them later on and I harvested those before Xmas.

Then I planted a row of beets and a row of turnips a bit too far apart - so I threw a row of parsnip seeds down in between and forgot about them, then when they started to sprout, I left them alone and never touched them again - I did not sew until quite late last year due to the weather so it was May when I got round to it. Then I had some left over onion sets and just randomly poked them in inbetween the sprouting parsnips - hence the mixed bag the other day.

So far we have had spicy parsnip soup, parsnip and lamb curry, and tonight a veg stew featuring - parsnips!!

We are off out to dinner tomorrow night with some friends who have recently become not only tee total but veggie - so I am thinking of replacing the normally obligatory bottle of red with a couple of enormous parsnips!

Monika

[Elizabeth]

If i'd given up alcohol I'd love to receive some parsnips. Especially a great big one - a really good 'talking point'.

Couldn't imagine not drinking red wine!!!

[Millymollymandy]

I've just dug the rest of mine up - the really huge ones like Monika's big 'un are Gladiator. I sowed another variety (Countess) and they are quite tiny in comparison (like on the seed packet!). I suppose they will be a lot easier to peel though!