December 25

Harvest Monday 25th Dec 2017

The last Harvest Monday of the year. The next one will be the 1st of January 2018.

I recently moved over to a ‘no dig’ approach to allotmenteering and it has lead to some amazing vegetables, some of which I have harvested for our Christmas dinner.

First off are the parsnips.  I generally have dreadful troubles with germination and this year was no different. However, an allotment neighbour had sown his and they had all germinated in the early warm weather we had this year.  True to form, it took me 3 goes to get some germination. These are Countess and I will grow them again next year. They are enormous. In fact, I could sow some each month so that I have more of them but not all this size!

Another vegetable that was large this year for me was celariac and again I put this down to no-dig gardening.  Where the slugs nibbled, the woodlice moved in so I need to prevent that next year but these are definitely the biggest celariac I have grown over the last few years.

It wouldn’t be Christmas day if we didn’t have sprouts! I love them and so don’t need chestnuts or pancetta with them, although that would be tasty. And leeks in cheese sauce.  Plus there is spinach and some early white sprouting broccoli.

 

Christmas and Boxing day sorted!

The potatoes, which are not pictured here, are Sarpo Mira which I tried for the first time this year and will grow again next year.  They didn’t need watering and only showed slight signs of blight at the end of September.

What did you pick for your Christmas meal?

Merry Christmas every one.

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Posted December 25, 2017 by alijoy in category december, parsley, potatoes, sprouting broccoli

8 thoughts on “Harvest Monday 25th Dec 2017

  1. Day - Homestead Pirate

    Hi there! I just found your blog, and really enjoyed reading back over the last year’s posts – and woza, today’s parsnip is big enough to be a gnome’s walking stick! I look forward to checking back and seeing how your garden progresses in 2018, especially using the no dig method. Maybe you’ll make a convert of me!

    Happy Holidays!
    Day

    Reply
    1. alijoy (Post author)

      The parsnip might not be a walking stick but the perennial kale – Daubenton’s I think – does look like a walking stick!

      Reply
  2. Dave @OurHappyAcres

    Sprouts for Christmas sounds lovely! I didn’t grow them this year but I’ve had them on New Years before. I’m interested in your no-dig approach and look forward to hearing more about it.

    Reply
    1. alijoy (Post author)

      Thanks Dave. I just don’t have the time to dig two allotments and saw the vegetables that Charles Dowding was growing on a no-dig plot and thought I would give it a go. I have grown the best brassicas, potatoes, parsnips and leeks that I have ever grown so far.

      Reply
  3. Michelle

    Definitely envious of that beautiful parsnip. I have none in my garden this year since I gave up trying to get some to germinate after 2 attempts. I had sprouts for Christmas too, but unfortunately I didn’t grow them.

    Reply
    1. alijoy (Post author)

      If I only ate what I grew I would look like a squash at this time of year. I do still buy some veg but as I am stopping work in March, I am hoping to be a little more self-sufficient this year. Here’s hoping!

      Reply
  4. Kathy

    We love sprouts too, and it is always exciting to be able to pick enough for Christmas Dinner. Those parsnips sound impressive too… our soil is quite stony so we do dig prepare the soil or the roots are many-fanged. Interesting results with celeriac, which I’ve never successfully grown, unless you call something the size of a snooker ball hen prepared a success! Merry Christmas to you!

    Reply
    1. alijoy (Post author)

      Thank you Kathy. My celariac are normally pretty small but gardeners are an optimistic lot, are we not?

      Reply

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