Never mind the length......

For quite a while now I've been wishing I had another 6 to 8 inches. Quite a few people have have said I really need them including my wife so today I took steps to make sure I'm going to get them.

Whilst exhibiting next to Dave Thornton's parsnips at Derby Show I could see I had a similar girth to his, and good uniformity but that his were several inches longer than mine. Length in itself isn't everything and condition and uniformity always has to be the major point scorers but on a local level some judges can be swayed by extra length and size.

I usually rest my long root drums on the sand contained within the metal frames but settling and sinkage means the drums can either lean to one side or sink into the sand causing the bore holes to distort meaning your roots have the potential to kink rather than being bayonet straight.



Therefore, I mackled together these wooden frames that rest on top of the metal frames....

......the drums are then rested on the wooden frames.....

.....and this is a view from above looking into the drum. The drum is barely resting on the wooden frame, just enough to be supported. The drum is then filled with sand, the wooden frame stopping the sand from spilling out sideways.

You can quite clearly see the difference in height between the new method on the right and the old method on the left.

As I've said in a previous posting you have to empty and refill the sand each year for a number of reasons, such as aerating the sand and also to get out any residual tap roots way down in the drums. I found this 12 inch piece in the sand in the metal framework. You don't want vegetable matter like this rotting away and marking your roots.

As I refill each drum I give the sand a drenching with Jeyes Fluid solution every few inches to kill any lurking nasties.

Two drums down, five more to go (for the parsnips!). The sand will sink back a few inches and so I will top up the drums before I sow the seed into the bore holes during March. It's quite surprising how much topping up you have to do as the sand settles, so you want to be getting your drums done several weeks before you need them.