Growing Parsnips

Although Parsnips can withstand cold weather, they are notoriously slow to germinate and in practice I have found it better to wait and sow in March when it is warmer.

Parsnips like rich, slightly heavy soil, well dug but NOT recently manured (as, like carrots, they will fork if the soil is TOO rich)

As soon as you can dig the bed over and produce a fine tilth, the conditions are fine for planting parsnip seed in the ground ( if the weather allows you to get a fine tilth, its warm and dry enough!)

Parsnips take a long time to grow BUT you can get a worthwhile crop even if they are sown in late spring. MAKE SURE you use fresh this year seed, because parsnip seeds do not keep well. If you HAVE to use last years seed, pre sprout it to check for viability ( put on damp kitchen paper and watch it sprout, then snip the paper up so a bit has a sprouted seed on it and then plant the paper)



Follow the instruction on the seed packet about how/where to sow, and you may as well be generous as the seed doesn't keep well....

I plant some outside but at least half of my parsnips are planted in loo roll tubes

Lightly cover the seeds with more growing medium and water well.

Transplant into their final position in the ground AS SOON as the seed has germinated ...If you leave it too long the tap root emerges from the bottom of the tube and, when transplanted, may be damaged. This won't hurt the plant BUT you will get a smaller, forked root!



So, make sure you have the parsnip bed ready for planting, if you decide to follow the "tube" idea!

Growing tomatoes, peppers and aubergines.

(This is a revised version of a post I first published in 2009 on how I plant seeds and things)

As I said in my last post I have been planting seeds in the porch recently. Raising plants to transplant outdoors (or under cloches or in a greenhouse/ tunnel) gives you a head start on the season. It is simple to provide extra warmth for a few pots and trays of seeds - in a warm room, or on a heated bench for example.

But remember - the seedlings that appear will also need some warmth and good light levels, until they can be moved to a frost free final position, so allow for where you are going to keep them. This is especially the case with pepper, tomato and aubergine plants as they will need a warm place to live!

I have had a lot of success with putting moderate sized tomato plants inside a cold frame inside an unheated polytunnel during March/April and this would work just as well inside a conservatory or a plastic small greenhouse I think.

I have recently been sowing tomatoes, sweet peppers and aubergine (egg plant for US friends) seeds in modules which have been germinating in my heated propagators in the porch. The porch is double glazed but unheated so can get cold at night! It is west facing though so gets the sun in the afternoon and makes a good place to set up "mission control" seed growing central!




I now have 3 electric heated propagators, each of which will hold 4 of the 6 celled seed modules. I have slowly gathered these over the last 20 years, they ARE expensive and I had two as gifts and the third was a sale bargain as it had a slightly damaged lid (!) BUT they are invaluable to me to help raise early plants, as I do not (YET) have a greenhouse to do this in. ( I have a greenhouse in BITS, and have had it for 8 years but it is not yet put together in a usable condition..maybe next year?)

I sow the sweet peppers and aubergine seeds first as they take longer to germinate than tomatoes (the peppers especially) I usually can move the seedlings out of the heated propagators and into unheated mini greenhouse trays after 15 days or so, and then I can sow more seeds in modules and put them in the empty space in the propagator...

I also sow herbs and salad seeds in unheated mini greenhouse windowsill trays and they give me an early start to the summer salads!

I do have salads over winter in the polytunnel BUT we don't tend to want to eat much salad in the winter in our household!


Sweet Pepper seeds






Sow on surface of growing medium them cover with about as much growing medium as the length of the seed.



Label



Water




and place in heated propagator,




seed germinated in 9 days...if in unheated propagator ( tray with some sort of cover) it will take longer...)




I have been sowing recently inside in my heated propagator in the same way as the pepper seeds, tomato, hot pepper and aubergine (egg plant)seeds.


Tomatoes/Peppers/Aubergines - for growing on in a cold greenhouse or tunnel (NOT OUTSIDE!!)
sown during the Feb waxing moon.

Starting off the seeds 2011 - Peppers, tomatoes, okra.

I have spent some time last week planting seeds in the heated propagators.

But I have just  realised I have  planted at least one 6 cell tray of 15 different varieties of  Tomato and 10 different pepper varieties, as well as Okra and all sorts of other stuff! Haven't even started on the Cucumbers , yet.... Or the Cherry tomato varieties....

The seeds are all in heated propagators in a double glazed large porch, so effectively are in a greenhouse, and will go into cold frames inside the PT until all danger of frost is passed, then will be planted out inside the Polytunnel.

It is how I do it every year, but I seem to have planted a lot more, a bit earlier, this year!

Good job I have advance orders for some of the plants! Also think I may be selling some plants at the gate again this year

Some things I have been up to recently...

Admiring the Snowdrops

and the Crocuses.

Felling trees and pruning shrubs and burning the bits which are no good as firewood.

And staying out until it is dark, so I can gaze into the flames!

Visit to the Scrapstore

I had a trip to the Scrapstore in Worcester ltoday, with Compostman. I am running various recycled material based craft workshops over the next few months, so I needed to stock up on supplies.

The Worcestershire Resource Exchange ( aka Scrapstore) is very well run, clean, tidy, well thought out and with loads of really good items for the bargin price of a trolley load for £10 ish, if you are a member. membership is worth while if you go more than once or twice a year!

I got lots of lovely card making supplies, also a raffia weaving kit that is excellent and will be great for craft workshops, lots of art supplies, some cross stitch kits and oven baked clay making kits, some big wool carpet samples which are ideal as rugs in 3 places we need to buy rugs for, and Compostman got lots of wire and a 6 ' length of slotted angle.

All this wonderousness for £22. The raffia kit alone was £5, reduced from £40 online.

I estimate that, if I had bought all of it from a craft supplier, it would have cost me in excess of £150.

If you have a Scrapstore nearby, I recomend using it!

On a sadder note, Treacle the hen is injured again and sitting down when she tries to walk....