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| Parsnips "Duchess" |
I'm pleased with this trio. Nice and long and regular, without any forks. Let's hope the rest are like this too! One of the three has a bit of canker damage around the crown, but probably nine-tenths of it will be useable.
My carrots are beginning to be a bit thin on the ground now, but one more batch was added to the tally this week. As usual they are a mixed bunch - some big, some small, some regular, some "wonky".
This year I have had a much higher than normal proportion of short stumpy ones (mostly of the "Norwich" variety). I wonder why this has been, because the bed in why they have been growing seems to me to be ideal - deep, sandy, stoneless, fertile, etc...
I cut two of my endives as well.
Although they are not fully blanched, there were several reasons why I wanted to pick them: firstly, I have lots of endives growing, so if I leave them all until they are 100% ready, I'll have a glut. Also, with the weather having turned a lot colder I don't want to lose them to frost. Most importantly though, I wanted some endive to accompany a rack of lamb that we ate yesterday. One of our favourite food combinations is rack of lamb, Gratin Dauphinois and endive with a nice tangy French dressing.
Though not illustrated here, my harvest this week included another picking of Lettuce - four little ones of different types, which together made enough salad for two meals. Last but not least, more chillis are continuing to ripen, though at this stage of the year I don't think you need to see yet more photos of chillis!
I'm linking this post to Harvest Monday, hosted as ever by Dave at Our Happy Acres, so please drop by there and see who else is still bringing in harvests.
We'll be picking our first parsnips when we get to the plot again - always a tense moment. WE will be very satisfied if they are like yours.
ReplyDeleteDespite the carrots being shorter than your harvests from previous years,it's still a decent harvest. I can't imagine the cold there. My younger son is in London at the moment and told me about the 'freezing cold'. By the way he's playing in a gig at Camden Underworld on 12 November.
ReplyDeleteLamb, Gratin Dauphinois, and Endive - sounds delicious! I wouldn't mind seeing more chillis, they will be gone so soon and it will be so long before they return.
ReplyDeleteVery nice parsnips! I picked mine as well and I've had several frosts so I'm hoping they are appropriately sweetened up. That's strange about the carrots - perhaps it's another situation where some other variety of seed was mixed up in the packet.
ReplyDeleteMy parsnips forked this year not sure why they may have needed thinning more those of yours and the carrots look great
ReplyDeleteThe endive is beautiful! I start harvesting my lettuce before it's full sized for the same reason you do your endive. The salad greens are usually good at the earlier stage anyway, and it prolongs the harvest period too.
ReplyDeleteCongrats on your parsnip harvest! I've never grown parsnips, although I have a feeling they wouldn't be fond of my climate. I like how it gives you something to look forward to after your first frost.
ReplyDeleteWe have also had our first parsnips, one for a stew and one for roasting on Sunday.
ReplyDeleteYour endive looks really good! Have you tried them stuffed and roasted? It is really tasty. Used a recipe by Antonio Carluccio. It has been a pretty good year for chillies hasn't it?!
ReplyDeleteKathy
Kathy, I've not tried cooking the curly Endive, but we have occasionally had the "Belgian endive" aka Chicory, as a cooked ingredient. It goes well with something sweet, like pears.
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