Friday 6 January 2012

Leeks, Parsnips and The Corner of Shame

We tried 2 varieties of Leek this year again ~ our usual trustworthy 'Musselburgh' and the promisingly named Lyon 2 'Prizetaker'. Well 'Musselburgh' has yet again been fabulous and we have been eating away at them with joy. However, boo and hiss to the 'Prizetaker' as they are all straggly and in flower for goodness sake. Very disappointing.

Though please do note, in this photo is my beautiful Red Chard shining away happily in the background and the lavender down there is doing good too; so over all, I am content. :)


We had utterly fantabulous Parsnips on the Christmas dinner table yet again this year. Oh how I love my Hubby's cooking - his honey glazed lottie grown and just freshly dug Parsnips. Yummmmm. I don't remember such a mixture of sizes before but that doesn't put me off and I have gobbled them up like the proverbial Turkey.

This overview photo of the 24a plot is to ease you into the mess that is to come *already I blush*....We are using Mamma G's leftover cut of carpet to try and kill off the grass. Most pleasingly, it is exactly the right width and I swear that grass is going bye bye. I bloody hate it, trying to cut it all with shears is a great tricep/bicep workout but I also end up with a blasted sore back and mouth full of bad words that I am afraid oft spill over. Give it time and the grass will die and we shall cover the whole lot in bark or some such thing. Plus the beds are going to made wider, oh yes, there are changes afoot on the plot - all I hope for the better :)

* The corner of shame

Yes this was once quite pretty, honestly. It was my little area for growing girly flowers and such but now that I have a gorgeous big flower bed on 14b I have decided it is no longer viable. In fact I have decided it is a damnable waste of space. My healthy red Dogwood is, well too healthy and has been trying to take over since it was planted. My ideas for weaving baskets has laughingly been, ummm, set to one side for the good of my sanity.

We have a round a zillion of those bronze grasses and more are self seeding all the time, most likely as I write this. The only things that need saved and loved and cared for are my most gorgeous Oriental Poppy and a Red Rose that are in there. This is one of the only spots on our plots that is prone to flooding and the rose was suffering anyway so it's best all round.

Look at the way Andrew is treating the area away - he never did help me to get it sorted to I think my wonderful idea of handing it over to him as a nursery/potting up area was his evil plan all long. Light bulb moment! I shall duly punch him, hold on.....a little domestic violence is surely acceptable in this case. *Only Joking* he is a way over there at the other end of the sofa and I am too tired to start a fight, it would only end in my demise - he knows my tickily spots!


So that is you basically up to date. We have daffs coming up everywhere - YAY! and Andrew has been shifting cow muck into our purpose built manure center and doing the essential pruning of all the Gooseberries and Blackberries etc.

I'm going back tomorrow :)

11 comments:

  1. Good looking leeks Carrie, all of ours went into a Boxing Day Jamie Oliver turkey and sweet leek pie which was delicious (2nd year running and now becoming a tradition in our house). And thanks for the warning on Prizetaker as it's on my seed stash list. Love your corner of shame, we all have them, until recently it was my garage and workshop which was a mess until I spent a whole day tidying. Good luck with your lottie plans.

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  2. Considering that we're usually mostly armchair gardening at this time of year it's good that we've been able to get out and do some plotting! Flighty xx

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  3. Oh dear you have just reminded me about pruning the blackberry! I do think the carpet should be red though.

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  4. Damo - yummy! Turkey and leek pie sounds good but we need to keep ours and use them sparingly as I am allergic to onion and leek is my substiute :) Stay Away from Prizetaker!!! xxxx

    Flighty - much say I am enjoying the armchair gardening with your book - she's a great writer xxxxx

    Sue - I know! Watch out next week, we have more carpet that i think you and I shall both approve off more.

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  5. You must be hardy folk over there. It's much too cold here to even think of spending time in the veg plot. I have been threatening to clean the green stuff off my greenhouse since last October, but I'm afraid it's just going to have to wait until the sun comes out. Lynda

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  6. Having to shift cow muck is punishment enough for Andrew's naughtiness :)
    By the way, the word to verify this comment is 'foompen'. I LOVE it! Must use this in several sentences this week xx

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  7. parsnips look AMAZING. Honey roasted parsnips are probably my fav veg. Lauran x

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  8. It's amazing to click on your pictures and see them BIG. I can see so much more of the lottie. You guys have done an excellent job with it.

    I kind of like the carpet:~) It's gives a very "retro" look.

    I'm pleased your enjoying the gardening and you sound really good. Do you know I can't ever remember having parsnips? Odd, I must have at some point. Maybe they grow where I live or something. However, Andrew's way of fixing them sounded GOOD:~)

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  9. I've tried other varieties, but I always come back to Musselburgh in the end. Can't beat them!

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  10. We have a similar problem with the edges of our paths and walkways in the garden - we use the ash from the fire - it chokes the grass down and at the same time firms up and dries the path a bit. ;)

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  11. Your parsnips look great I bet that they tasted even better! The variation in size may be down to too much richness in the soil, e.g. had it been recentently fertilized? As this can cause odd shaped and size parsnips.

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