Overwintering carrots and parsnips
I
hope you'll bear with a second lunchtime
series of experimentation. If you're bored, say so and I'll try
to cut back
on future lunchtime series about experiments. Meanwhile, I've got
a book-related series on comfrey coming up, so stay tuned.
Last summer when
the blight hit, I
was faced with several empty beds in
August. Even though it was a bit late for planting most fall
crops, I decided to seed carrots and parsnips, and the umbellifers did
grow beautiful ferny leaves to replace the blighted tomatoes.
However, when cold weather approached, I had to face the fact that my
crops hadn't been in the ground long enough to thicken their
roots, so I decided to cover them up with mulch and see what would
happen
in the spring.
I uncovered the carrots
and parsnips at the same time I uncovered the
strawberries, and the plants took off, once again turning their beds
into a jungle of leaves. I was so hopeful...until I pulled a few
up. The parsnip roots had gone woody inside while the carrots had
paled in color and turned bitter.
They were just barely edible enough to use in soup, but I would have
been
better off eating the small roots last fall when they were sweet and
crunchy.
I haven't gotten around
to pulling all of the parsnips out yet, and
they're starting to send up flower stalks --- the one positive result
of overwintering a biennial. I don't know if I have
enough plants to prevent inbreeding, but I'll at least let them bloom
since umbellifer
flowers are beloved by beneficial insects. And if I need
something to fill garden gaps in August, I'll stick to a late planting
of summer squash.
| This post is part of our Farm Experiments lunchtime series.
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About us: Anna Hess and Mark Hamilton spent over a decade living self-sufficiently in the mountains of Virginia before moving north to start over from scratch in the foothills of Ohio. They've experimented with permaculture, no-till gardening, trailersteading, home-based microbusinesses and much more, writing about their adventures in both blogs and books.
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Please don't stop. I love reading all of your posts over coffee in the morning. I just moved to a small farm(I guess I should say it's becoming a farm)and I very much enjoy the education and information the two of you give while we work to build our own homestead.
Thank you for this blog.
Aaron in Kansas
I love the experiments and updates. I have followed your lead on some things that worked out and stayed away from others because of some of you warnings.
I have carrots for the first time this year (all other years have been failures for different reasons). A couple of them are starting to go to seed. Is this normal? I thought they only did that during the second year.
Two of my best gardening lessons I have learned by experimentation: Onions truly do not like beans and will not grow with them and Corn and Kidney beans planted in alternating rows a foot apart and mulched with lawn clippings after they are about 3 inches tall makes for a truly work free garden with great production. (I'm still a row gardener, old habits)
I'm so glad the experiments have been helping. I was just thinking this morning, "Of course people like your experiments, Anna. The ones who hate them have already moved on to a fluffier blog!"
Your carrots shouldn't be going to seed --- that's strange! They're biennials, so they really should have to grow a full year before going to seed. The only thing I can think of is that maybe you started them so early that they built up enough reserves that they thought they could make it? When did you plant them?
I like your corn and bean alternation with lawn clippings --- it almost sounds like a do-nothing grain plot!