Like last week our one and only plot visit of the week was to harvest vegetables for the week ahead. It's just far too soggy to do much else.
Our collection is very similar to last weeks harvest although this time we brought back more parsnips.
This week's cabbage is much smaller than last week but not quite as small as the photo implies as it is posing alongside some supersized carrots.
We've rather become accustomed to large carrots which fortunately retain the small carrot flavour. Not bad considering that when we first took the plot more years ago than I care to remember, we were warned by the stalwarts of the site, "Tha'll nay grow carrots on 'ere lad. Tha's wastin' thee time." (Translation - You'll not grow carrots in this site young man. You are wasting your time.) Note the young bit and that the comment was directed at Martyn as I was the novelty young wife brought along to help when I should have been left at home to carry out wifely tasks. How times have changed!
We don't expect beautifully formed carrots or parsnips. If you look at the first photo carefully you will detect some shapes that would be rejected by the retail market's quality control police who care little for the superior taste. Every now and then though a specimen is unearthed that is held aloft and admired.
Maybe not show bench quality but beautiful to our eyes.
Once again I am linking to Harvest Monday over at Daphne's Dandelions.
Our total November harvest is listed here
Posts
Those carrots are huge. Just caught up on your last post, I think my favourite rose of the three is the white one. Hope they do well for you.
ReplyDeleteI could have guessed that you would like the single one the best, Jo. When it came down to it there weren't many single climbers with good fragrance and the colour I wanted.
DeleteVery impressive, Sue! Have either of you ever considered growing for the show bench - the next step I might say given the size of these ;-)
ReplyDeleteShowing isn't for us Shirley, Just as entering best plot competitions when the council ran them weren't either, Vegetables are for eating,
DeleteThose are just huge. And I wish I had parsnips like that. Oh how I wish. I'll have to be happy with my sorry ones though. I do love parsnips. Maybe next year they will turn out better.
ReplyDeleteWe have out fair share of sorry ones too, Daphne.
DeleteLovely harvest and very impressed with the size. Our carrots have done well size wise this year too... haven't grown parsnips for a couple of years now and I miss them so they are definitely back on the list for next year. :o)
ReplyDeleteParsnips are one veg that cause a sleepless nights (metaphorically) after sowing, Julie and great celebration when they actually germinate.
DeleteGreat harvest so late in the year Sue - personally I don't really care how carrots look (don't like parsnips) so long as they taste yummy.
ReplyDeleteI'll be it feels great to have proved those auld yins wrong!
I'll take the carrots any way they come too, Angie,, Trouble is we are probably viewed as the auld yins now. Some people still insist that carrots can't be grown in our soil and maybe think those that manage it are dabbling in dark arts!
DeleteWho cares about good looks when you can get parsnips and carrots that big? I don't think I would ever be able to grow parsnips that long - my soil is not deep enough. I have about a foot of decent stuff in the raised beds, but it sits on a thin sprinkling of soil spread over builders' rubble from the construction of the house!
ReplyDeleteAny fruit or vegetable that passes the taste text is beautiful to me, Mark regardless of looks. Our clay soil isn't ideal for parsnips but every so often we get a good one.
DeleteFantastic carrots and parsnips. I think I'll try parsnips next year, I do love them. And the home/plot grown ones always taste so much better than supermarket ones. I've heard they're tricky to germinate though. Might be another one where I sow a whole packet and end up with nothing.
ReplyDeleteThey can be very slow to germinate and need to use fresh seed. We do get gaps in germination but usually manage a crop; Our growing method is described on this page on my website which may be of some help.
DeleteOne of these days I'm going to learn how to grow parsnips and I'll be extremely happy if I can manage to grow beauties like yours. My husband would be thrilled if I could grow carrots like those trophies.
ReplyDeleteIf you follow the link on my reply to CJ you can read how we grow them Michelle. We grow carrots in the same way buy cover with enviromesh from seed sowing to covering with straw for winter otherwise the carrot fly attacks them
DeleteTell you what...all those parsnips are beautiful to my eyes, especially as I didn't get a single one! What fab specimens od the carrots and gigantic parsnip!xxx
ReplyDeleteHow disappointing, Dina, I hope that you have better luck next year
DeleteThat's really a good harvest! You have done a great job with carrot! It will be great if the person come and see these carrot harvest! ;)
ReplyDeleteThat won;t be happening, Malar as he died quite a few years ago
DeleteGoodness me - what big carrots you have grandmamma.
ReplyDeleteAll the better to eat then my dear
DeleteWow, that’s some huge carrots, and great to hear they still taste good as big carrots tend to taste less sweet. I must admit I really don’t care what shape my harvest take, as long as it tastes good – and by the time it’s chopped up and served, no one can see what the original shape was anyway. I think supermarkets are less strict with shape of vegetables these days, I don’t grow carrots myself and I buy a bag of 1 kg most weeks – and often find rather strange shapes in the British grown ones. Great, I think.
ReplyDeleteYour supermarket may have seem the light Helene but looking at the displays at ours there doesn't appear to be any three legged carrots or curly cucumbers.
DeleteThese carrots and parsnips look gorgeous, what a size. They are not only a feast for the eyes but I suppose also delicious on your plate. I have never grown parsnips, because in our country it's rarely seen.
ReplyDeleteDefinitely delicious, Janneke
DeleteThat bit about the conversation with the stalwart is hilarious! I too would love to have harvested such large carrots. I didn't let mine grow to full size, unfortunately realizing this only after I had already dug them up. Hopefully I will do much better in the carrot department next year - probably not quite so large as yours though.
ReplyDeleteWe were considered ti be oddities, Margaret as we grew strange things like herbs and didn't always grow things in rows that all lined up in the same direction
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