5th March, 2012

A rainy weekend and family commitments precluded much work getting done.  Usually on miserable days it's a good time to catch up on some cooking.  I'm clearing out the freezer for this season's bounty and came across some blanched parsnip chunks.  What to do with them apart from the same old roasting? Well we have this marvellous vegetarian cookbook which doesn't appear to have a bad recipe in it, so I tried the parsnip casserole for the first time.  I have to admit it didn't sound appetising, but it tasted wonderful.  Quite a surprise and definitely one to have again.

I also made a leek pie from the same book, again an absolutely lovely meal.

As you can probably work out, the meals are based around what is available (isn't that what veg gardening is all about anyway?).  I decided it was time to start eating the leeks.  They look like this.

They aren't very big at about 6" long in the picture above.  But they are tasty and seem to not be infected with the allium leaf miner that I had last year.  Maybe planting out late (July!) helps?

The potatoes are chitting nicely.  It's probably not necessary but it's fun to mark it in the blog and share with other chitters.  It's what veg growers do to mark the season's beginning.

4th February, 2009

I put my seed potatoes into egg cartons to chit today, but only the earlies (International Kidney and Dunluce) not the maincrop as they don't need to be chitted apparently. However, as you can see from the picture below, they are well on their way to sending out sprouts which is because I left them in the warm house rather than in the cool (no, very cold!) conservatory. Ooops.



I dug up two remaining parsnips today. I had to scrape away the snow to get to them. They were on the small side but are now in a casserole along with some parsnips I froze from last year! Did I have that many?

My father has sown his parsnips already but the seeds I have (Excalibur) don't need sowing until April.

I could start sowing this month, although I think it is still too cold even in the greenhouse. I'm going to wait a few more weeks. The veg I can sow are:

Chilli (De Cayenne): these grew very well last year and got a good crop some of which I dried and are still available for use (haven't done so yet though). I'm still using last year's seeds.
Flat leaved parsley (last year's seeds again) another good yield last year
Aubergine (last year's seed): not a good crop due to overwatering, that's easily rectified.
Tomato (gardener's delight): last year's seed, good yield.
Leeks (porvite): new seeds
Broad beans (Jubilee Hysor): I have about 10 seeds left from last year so may as well find a spot for them.