Vinny's Allotment Plot

You would be better with the plants on the ground as long as they will not be got by mice. Then covered with fleece or whatever. I use 2 layers of fleece while there are hard frosts. The warmth from the ground should be sufficient to keep under the fleece from freezing.

You would be better with the plants on the ground as long as they will not be got by mice. Then covered with fleece or whatever. I use 2 layers of fleece while there are hard frosts. The warmth from the ground should be sufficient to keep under the fleece from freezing.

Thanks mark.

OH was out of sorts today so told her I would make a flying visit to plot to water up and check on stuff.

As mentioned in another thread Mother Nature had let me off and only killed only half of my dahlias, leaving me plenty to grow on. After watering brassicas and leeks I had a quick check of the plot. I was pleased to see that a goodly proportion of my direct sown parsnips have germinated. I normally sow these in February but managed to get them in in early March. I scraped a grid pattern for sowing and sowed a pinch at each intersection of the grid. They are coming up in little clumps and will be thinned to one in each position when they get a bit bigger. To save root disturbance I will just use a pair of scissors to snip off unwanted plants.  I am still harvesting parsnips now from last years sowing and they appear to be standing well.

I could freeze some, but never seeing any frozen ones in shops I just wonder whether they will go to mush?

Luckily I only had to leave OH less than half an hour.

Vinny I've roasted parsnips then frozen them reheating in a hot oven, have to say they don't taste any different to freshly roasted ones. I've done the same with left over roast potatoes.

Vinny I've roasted parsnips then frozen them reheating in a hot oven, have to say  they don't taste any different to freshly roasted ones.  I've done the same with left over roast potatoes.

Thanks Bren, I might give it a try as I need to clear the bed for the next crop.

When I was younger I didn't like them but now I can't get enough of them.

My Son visited which gave me a chance to visit the plot for a short time as he was in with his Ma.

I took loads of stuff to my greenhouse tent, the majority of which is already leggy. Hopefully by deep planting in there final positions I may be able to save some of it. After watering indoors and outdoors in cold frame I decided I had enough time (about 1.5 hours) to dig over and plant up another  2 foot wide bed. After digging I planted the remainder of my Sturon onion sets along with other sets which should have been planted in the Autumn.

I now have four onion beds planted with a mixture of Autumn and spring planted onion sets. Some were planted closer and later than I would like but vegetable growing is an ongoing experiment at all times.

Here's a piccie of the four prepared and planted beds.The top two have three rows of onion sets and the bottom two have two rows of sets.

Nothing much done today. Mainly visited plot to water seedlings and see if stuff I added to greenhouse yesterday had been frosted. Some has, some hasn't so I will just have to wait until these frosty mornings are over before assessing damage.

While I was there one of the plotholders asked if my carrots were still ok. I said they were and that I also needed that bed for summat else. They agreed to take them off my hands along with some large parsnips.
earlier in the week I had harvested parsnips, cleaned them, chopped them, par boiled them then semi roasted them. Once cooled they were added to freezer.
Part of the watering was the new crop of parsnips in another bed.

Sowed six sunflowers in toilet roll holders and set them in propagator. I don't think they need high temepratures to germinate but the propagator was empty, so why not.

Went to the plot about 4.45pm and spent 1.5 hours there. As usual, what I planned to get done didn't get done and I did something else.

I planted out 2 rows of leeks and tidied up the edges of the beds that are planted. I now have five beds planted. One with leeks and the others with 10 rows of onion sets.

I have to say that these two foot wide beds with 14 inch paths are proving very easy to work on and less stretching means less back pain!

Two views of same area below.

Looking good fella

Yesterday. Another bed prepared and planted with leeks. That's two beds of leeks and four beds of onions up and running.