Thursday, 31 December 2009

Happy New Year
Another year older and another crop to plant for 2010, that was quick.

I hope you managed to get your parsnips out of the ground this Christmas, frozen ground was a problem.
A quick google and up came some solutions:
Pouring warm water on the ground to melt the ice seemed to work http://chat.allotment.org.uk/index.php?topic=49222
Digging a trench next to your parsnips to help them come out intact, although this site said dig some up earlier to avoid the frozen in the ground problem http://www.garden-grower.com/growing-vegetables/parsnip.shtml
You can cover them with straw but then the frost doesn't penetrate and sweeten.

I think the best way is to stick your fork in and dig them up! We don't get perma frost here and even in the worst frost it only penetrates a few inches.
But once every 50 years or so if the worst comes to the worst there is always the pneumatic drill.

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