Reasonable harvest - but parsnip woe

[Easywriter]

Hello everyone.

A couple of pics of some recent efforts from my first lottie year - plus a horror pic of a parsnip.

Runner beans doing really well, I could barely lift a supermarket bag full of them last time I brought some back. Onions not really ready yet, but I thought pull one up, see how they were going. Potato peeler added for scale.



'Annabelle' and 'Estima' earlies, plus 'Desiree' main crop. I didn't think the reds would be ready yet, but they look (and taste) OK.

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What's happened here  . No long, straight, competition-winning pasnip for me. What causes this 



Easywriter 

[Kepouros]

What that parsnip is doing should only be done in the bedroom behind closed doors

[Chrispy]

You need a couple of googley eyes for your parsnip

I've had all sort of weird shaped parsnips, they send down a long thin root and then fattern up, but if the root is blocked by a stone or compact soil then this is what happens.

I've dibbed a hole and then filled with GP compost to see if I can get straighter roots, but have not pulled any of those up yet,

[lincsyokel2]

You need a couple of googley eyes for your parsnip

I've had all sort of weird shaped parsnips, they send down a long thin root and then fattern up, but if the root is blocked by a stone or compact soil then this is what happens.

I've dibbed a hole and then filled with GP compost to see if I can get straighter roots, but have not pulled any of those up yet,

even a lump of horse poo can warp them. Its the same for all root veg, thats why i grow carrots in multipurpose compost in a glassfibre bath.

[Digeroo]

Some one grew some here last year and put in lots of manure in lumps and had an incredible set of alien shapes. 

I try and make sure the soil is very well broken up by pushing in the spade every half inch all along the row before I sow them.   Before the soil was good enough to do this I dug a v shaped trench and filled it with a mixture of compost and siften soil.  But now even though the soil is very gravelly they seem to be able to cope.  My problem this year is they have been to dry and I am not sure they are going to fatten up.

[BarriedaleNick]

Strangely enough I get quite nice straight parsnips on heavy clay - they seem t like it!

[Cabagepicker]

What a shame 'That's life'is no longer on TV. Ester Rantzen would have laughed at that Parsnip. Hope it tastes ok anyway!