Tap snap mishap

Dave Thornton has had a phenomenol year with his long roots,winning the National, Malvern and Westminster with long carrots. At Westminster he also won the tap root collection calling for 2 long carrots, 2 parsnips, 2 long beet and 2 stump carrots.





















I had also entered this class but when I pulled my long beet on the Sunday afternoon before I didn't think it would be good enough so I never bothered pulling any parsnips and long carrots. However, when I saw the long beet in Dave's collection I realised my long beet was more than adequate and I reckon I could have got a 2nd or 3rd in the class. The only problem I encountered was getting as long a tap root out of the growing medium as possible, and the solution may be in the variety I grow.....or rather don't grow. I grow Cheltenham Green Top whereas most of the top boys go for Regar or Long Black. Looking at these varieties at Westminster the thin tap root looks a bit more robust and more likely to emerge intact. As you can see from this photo my CGT snapped at about 2 feet down.






















I have one long beet left growing. At Derby there is a class for 3 tap roots, chosen from parsnips, long carrots, stump carrot, or long beet, one specimen of each only required. I shall endeavour to extract as much of the root as possible.

With parsnips and long carrots I pull 'dry', by exposing as much of the top of the carrot/parsnip as possible. A little sprinkle of water washes away any sand so it doesn't scratch the skins. Get above the root as much as possible (difficult if your drums are 5' off the ground!) and pull upwards slowly, firmly and gently. A good long root that isn't forked or bent should come up quite easily.