Wendy's Veggie Patch

Hi Wendy,

Not sure if carrots and Parsnips would fork. But the rest should be OK. Have a look at some Charles Dowding videos on you tube, very good vids. Someone put a link on another post last night and I ended up sitting up until about 1 am watching them.

Rusty

 

I wouldn't worry about it. The mushroom compost might make the Parsnips fork, but they will taste the same but the air might be blue whilst you are peeling them

I think Mushroom Compost is fantastic soil improver. Downside it is alkaline, so not ideal on an Alkaline soil, but so long as you don't do it every year I think the gain far outweighs the Chalk/Calcium boost. Vegetables make soil more acid over time, and need some Lime occasionally ... so ... you're just a bit ahead of the curve

Carrots and Parsnips don't transplant, so if you can be bothered I suggest:

Carrots:

Make a v-shaped "trench" about 3" deep and 2" wide at the top (Swan Neck Hoe ideal, or use Spade: push in 3"-4" and wiggle front-to-back to make the "V", move along one spade width, Repeat!) and (**) put some nice fine sandy compost in there (I sift mine ...) and sow the carrots into that row.

If the Carrots come up way-to-thick then cut (scissors) off the excess leaving a little clump each couple of inches, and then as they grow pull some at intervals along the row to eat as "baby carrots" leaving the remainder at regular spacing to have room to fatten up

(**) Water the "trench" (from a watering can spout, keep it in the trench, not the surrounding soil), so there is plenty of water "under" the seed before you sow it, which will help germination.

Sweet Candle is my favourite variety.

Parsnips:

Make a planting hole 6"deep (I use a bulb planter, but a metal-bar or broom handle stuck in and wiggled round-and-round to make a cone-shaped hole will do, and fill that with the same sifted sandy soil, then sow a few seeds into each planting station. When them come up cut (scissors) off to leave two initially, and then once they are a bit bigger sacrifice the weaker one (the books always say "the weaker one" but I find they are always pretty much the same ...)

 

Many thanks for your reply. I have used 2 x 1m cube bags of mushroom compost and only used half a bag of the 1m cube topsoil between the 3 beds so mostly mushroom compost.
I could weed the rest of my garden this weekend (which needs doing) and move some of the heavy MC soil from the most raised beds into the garden , then add more topsoil.
Do you think it is worth the effort?
Certainly building up my arm muscles

 

Thank you so much for taking the time to reply. Will have a go with the parsnips & carrots in the bed with least compost.
Back in the garden today in the sunshine.

Many thanks for your comprehensive reply. Will give them both a go in the bed with the least compost in.
Will be referring back to your post when I come to do the seeding.

Off out into the garden

 

Thank you Rusty.
Will look at them for top tips. My daughters are finding my new You Tube viewing of gardening info very amusing.

Happy gardening.

 

Don't let them watch anything like this in case it sets their expectations!!



They might like to have a go at this one though (same YouTuber)