Rows 16" apart? For a thin stick??
Well I definately I'm going to get crop with closer spacing ::)
We shall see...seeds gone in with rows 10" apart ;)
And EIGHT INCHES in the row??
...bloody not ;)...just 2" will have to do ;D
Tim..are aiming for "the crop of the year" competition? You haven't mistaken them to monster parsnips? :o ;)
..I've never grown these before..but those distances are what my seed packet quotes..
Good luck on germination... I've always found them even worse than Parsnips... until I started Summer sowing from my own plants... :-X
I blow hot and cold over scorzonera and salsify-some years I grow it because I do.
But do I actually like it? Many things taste nice when smothered in butter or a herb sauce.
And I most certainly do not peel either-a good scrub with a nail brush is work enough
I grew them once a few years back. I found them quite bland.
It's Daughter's idea.
I shall ignore the packet & stuff them in close!!
Does everyone grow it as annual then? It's a perennial, no?
You can eat the leaves too as a salad leaf.
Hi, I am going to have a go at growing some this year and according to my packet if you want bigger veg then it is best to leave it until next year to harvest.
This is the first time I have grown this so I thought I would harvest a few this year and leave some to harvest next year and see which tastes best. ie just it get woodier the longer it is in the ground??
They say NO!
Good old Bob Flowerdew says..."Keeps well in the ground ,though it is wise to dig some up to store in a shed when hard frosts are likely"..."seed of of these does not keep well, and garden plants may cross with wild relative so won't come true from seed. Buy fresh every year."
So Tim is right..it is not perennial..if not lifted by spring..it will flower like carrots and parsnip do in they second year..set seed and plants job is done....
So looks like somebody is having to stretch her belly to fit all those scorzoneras and salsifys in ::)....I did get carried away with sowing.. ::) OH well.. ;D
[url]http://www.pfaf.org/database/plants.php?Scorzonera+hispanica/url] among others lists Scorzonera as a perennial
Ohhhh,,,that is interesting..you got me going through my books now...
and you are right..amphibian...
Roger Phillips book of veg says..."It is perennial, so if the roots are rather small after their first yer, they may be left in the ground and grown on for a second season"..it doesn't say what after that though.. ::) Then again I should have realized that after all Scorzonera is related to dandelion :o... ;D..yep perennial ;D
I am leaving mine in the ground to grow on for their second spring, having read that somewhere. But I am also beginning to wonder if it is worth it. I put them in my softest, deepest richest ground, and the ones I have dug up have fairly stubby roots.
In Germany last week I bought some massive roots and cooked them for us, with lemon and butter - and sadly came to the same conclusion as Sawfish. They take up lots of space for a long time in the best soil, and I don't think I will bother again.
they make the most beautiful five foot yellow flowers if you don't like the taste.
I'm fairly certain you can eat the flower stems too...
if they flower you can plant your own seed almost immediately and get good germination... did you translpant them Artichoke? I direct sow and some roots go down over 2'... on a heavy clay soil... I still have the original plants... having dug them out three years together... I let them re grow for the flowers and seed...
I put them in root trainers and transplanted carefully, but I take your point. Maybe 'll let it flower and try a few of its seeds directly sown.
Yes they do flower in their second year but some plants will survive this - not much longer though, so they are short-lived perennials under ideal conditions.
However I wouldn't recommend leaving them - the skin becomes much tougher in the second year, damage builds up and you end up with a complex peeling job instead of a simple scrub.
I've never found them to be any less than 100% hardy (they originated in the centre of the continent I think) but they are very long - and when the water table rises in a wet winter any plants at the bottom of the slope can end up with half their roots immersed - and that half rots off.
Cheers.
Well mine are in the top plot... best drainage, which may account for the long roots. The "parent" plants are now in the 4th year and going strong.... but I'm only keeping them for seed production... :-X