I've had some whopper parsnips so far this season, most of which I have had to fight out of the ground
Other roots; carrots and beetroot have been pretty good too, producing a constant supply
I ended up having to pull up all of the carrots at the start of October because something started eating them in the ground. These were the last ones that came up.
Swede is technically a brassica but they look and grow like roots so I'm including them here. I have only had a couple of decent ones this year but as that's more than last year I'm treating them as a success.
I have a freezer well stocked with both carrots and parsnips and also another row of parsnips still in the ground. The remaining were sown quite close together and thinning out has never been a strength of mine so at the weekend I pulled up a few of the smaller ones
Very tasty there were too.
... on Bank Holiday Monday I decided to tidy up the overgrown, caterpillar infested brassica beds. Most of the remaining "above the ground" veg was discarded, but I was hoping that the "below the ground" i.e. swede would be okay... not so.
They were too close together and had either been stunted, split or eaten by critters. Swede were supposed to be part of my masterplan to provide fresh veg during winter. I did manage to save one though.
I've read some comments that swede isn't very nice if it's harvested too early and before the frosts have got to it; this one tasted lovely steamed and mashed with some of my rooster potatoes. I just wish I had a few more to grow on.
Next year I must take more care to thin them out and be more vigilant where cabbage whites are concerned!
I was hoping there would be more than two parts to my Bank Holiday Weekend gardening activities, but the bad weather has continued; yesterday it rained more or less constantly, and when it did let up there was a very cold wind blowing round the garden. Today has been better; there is still a chill in the air but the sun has come out every now and again. Nevertheless, over the course of the weekend I have been able to do a few more bits and pieces.
The jack o' lanterns have been planted out into reusable growbags.
I'll probably put squash in between them, once they are ready to go out.
I've planted out my beetroot (boltardy) plugs into a wicker planter and sowed some more undercover, and have continued sowing like there's no tomorrow; broccoli (psb & raab), cauliflower (all year round), pak choi (red choi), fennel (di firenze), chicory (radicchio palla rosso precoce), turnip (purple top milan) are all in small pots in the potting shed.
Outdoors sowings consist of a row of swede (best of all) in a raised bed with some previously planted out brassicas, and four types of radish (cherry belle, prinz rotin, french breakfast and hilds blauer herbst und winter) in a bulb crate.
The final batch of potatoes (rooster) have also been planted into potato sacks.
In the greenhouse I potted on the okra plants.
And finally, I purchased some sweet pepper (bellboy) and chilli pepper (apache) plants from the garden centre. I still haven't given up on the idea of germinating my own from seed even though my last (and was going to be final) attempt in the heated propagator only produced one chilli shake, and time is running out if they are going to have a long enough season to fruit and ripen. Might just give it one more go?!
