Friday, October 24, 2008

Harvest

I just harvested our parsnips and collected what I think are going to be the last of the raspberries. There are lots more on the canes but I don't think they'll have an opportunity to really ripen. Maybe we'll get a couple more handfuls - it'd be nice!

I experimented with growing the parsnips in a big, big round bucket this year and was hoping to be able to keep them in the dirt and harvest as needed until the ground really froze up. It didn't work out that way. When I tried pulling a couple out today I could only yank off the leafy top part and the roots all stayed firmly embedded in the dirt. Eventually I realized the only way I was going to get more than ten of them out was if I emptied out the entire bucket. Sigh.

At least I had a spot in the garden where I had wanted to put down a bunch of dirt. I dug and dumped and dug and dumped...for a half hour and finally was able to get the dirt loose enough to empty it. The root system was huge! It was easy to see why the parsnips weren't budging. Their roots made a tight net through the dirt and especially at the bottom. It was worth the work. There was a bounty of veggies and some of them are enormous with really long curved roots. It'll be a bit of a challenge to peel those but cutting them up and peeling the cuttings will probably do the trick.

I still have a patch of parsnips and carrots in the garden but I think they're just not going to get big enough before it's too cold for them to do any more growing.

I love being able to experiment in the garden. The only problem is that I risk losing an entire harvest - like when I cut the raspberries back last year and it turned out they're a variety that likes second year canes the best. The ones I didn't cut back had a bounty of berries this year and the others, well they had pretty leaves at least.

I'm thinking that next year I'm going to try and find a long, narrow, and deep container for carrots. It worked well with the parsnips but I think round was the wrong shape.

Mmmm lots of dreaming and planning to do this winter :-)!

No comments: