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Leeks, carrots and parsnips

bobloesbobloes Posts: 134
in Fruit & veg
Hi All

I have a small vegetable plot and am still in the novice stage of growing.  I do not have a freezer to use for storage and attempting to store carrots and parsnips has just resulted in them going soft.  I have therefore tended to leave them in the ground until I want to use them.  This brings its own problems as the core tends to be a larger proportion of the edible part.  I am hoping that I might be able to achieve 'ground storage' by staggering different sowings but timing becomes important as they need to have grown to usable size before the temperatures fall.  Would this work and last, for example, through the winter? 
My leeks are a reasonable size but do not have the crispness of shop bought ones.  Any suggestions?

Thanks

Bob

Posts

  • BobTheGardenerBobTheGardener Posts: 11,385
    It's important to choose a suitable variety if leaving in the ground.  I now stick with 'Kingston' which is an F1 variety developed from Autumn King.  Mine are sown around May and I'm still usually harvesting in February.  Another thing to try is lifting them before the tops die down and storing in damp sand or compost, somewhere covered but unheated.  Some info. on making a 'clamp' are here on our site:

    A trowel in the hand is worth a thousand lost under a bush.
  • raisingirlraisingirl Posts: 7,093
    As Bob said for carrots, so I'd say for parsnips.
    Chose your varieties carefully - I grow 'Tender and True' and 'Gladiator'. Both seem not to get woody even when left in the ground until February.
    I usually sow them early - late February or early March - but this year it was Beastly cold and for one reason or another I didn't get them sown until June (others on here had said they usually sow theirs in summer) and the crop this year is fine - nice sized parsnips. So you can definitely sow from late Feb (if the ground's not frozen) until early June to spread out the crop.
    You can clamp parsnips as for carrots.
    You can also keep them in a sack or old pillowcase in a cold dark place at least for a few months. I hang mine up in the garage. They become bitter when they start to shoot again in late Winter so it's more short term than leaving them in the ground or clamping them. 
    Gardening on the edge of Exmoor, in Devon

    “It's still magic even if you know how it's done.” 
  • Busy-LizzieBusy-Lizzie Posts: 24,043
    I always leave parsnips in the ground, works fine for me. But I've stopped bothering with carrots for the winter, so easy and cheap to buy them especially if there is a market or farm shop nearby - better then the supermarket ones. How much does crispness matter for the leeks when you are going to cook them anyway? I think homegrown have more flavour.
    Dordogne and Norfolk. Clay in Dordogne, sandy in Norfolk.
  • cornellycornelly Posts: 970
    Carrots and parsnips lifted and stored on open topped containers In my own leaf mould, kept slightly moist in a cool shed.
  • bobloesbobloes Posts: 134
    Thanks Bob for the link.  I think as Busy Lizzie has said maybe that much work is not worth the effort.  However I shall try your suggestions re Kingston and the parsnip variety from Raisingirl so I can leave them in the ground.  As for the leeks I have pretty heavy clay soil and I am trying to get as much organic matter in as possible and this is definitely one time when size does not matter but the feel and look of a leek does to me.  Any suggestions re variety?  Thanks to all.  Bob
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