Back in March I sowed some parsnips in these old sections of drainage tube that I'd managed to acquire. The intention was to 'show' them at Sturton where I'd noticed that the judge always seemed to go for shorter and fatter specimens, and the metal tubes I'd grown them in for several seasons had started to rust quite badly.
However, when harvested the roots had forked several times about 8-10" down and were useless for showing, although the foliage was lush and strong. The reason for this is quite obvious and I should have known better.......black absorbs heat. The compost must have dried out too much.......indeed it was dust dry and hence the roots had forked in order to go off in different directions looking for moisture.
If I use them again next season I will have to give them a coat of white or silver paint to reflect the heat, or else wrap them in some of that silver material that builders use to insulate walls. Ho hum......I hope you all appreciate me telling you about my cock-ups so that you don't make the same mistakes as I did?
No comments:
Post a Comment