Humph's Happy Horti-cult: harvesting, preserving, mulching, leaf-gathering, bulb-dibbing, seed catalogue-surfing and hunkering down for winter

[Lexilicious]

Following on from the original March to August thread. For all - whether still gardening through the winter or planning to sweep the shed, hibernate, sharpen the tools and get started again in the spring.

Happy gardening again!

I too have monster parsnips - not quite as monster as last year's but still pretty good. Just wish I could find an easier way of digging them up! I've a couple of rows left for Christmas day and a few good soups.

Like the idea of your ladybird home Lex. The ladybirds around here don't need encouragement mind; there isn't a crack or crevice that doesn't have a small cosy huddle of them.

What are these parsnips of which you speak?

::Don't much care for veg emoticon::

Could you send me a boxful of ladybirds, Bertha? There's a dearth of them here, possibly because they've been ousted by the harlequins.

Oddly, neglecting parsnips would solve your ladybird problem. We missed a parsnip last year, it grew into a 6ft flowering monstrosity which attracted every greenfly in the street as far as I can tell. Then all the ladybirds came and laid eggs all over it. I had no greenfly problems for the whole rest of the summer.

Aha, so there is a reason for parsnips after all!

Maud - we normally have harlequins swarm here every year but this year we've had far less and I think that's what's allowed the native ones to be so prolific.

Just like to boast that I've been reading the 'MN tricks' thread and now all my posts are pink and Lex's (as OP) are green. Very colourful.

It was a joke about posting ladybirds - I think the organic gardening catalogues post larvae rather than adults.

I have MN set up so that my posts are green and the OP's are pink. Frankly, if I've caught on to it, it must be vieux chapeau, as I am not exactly an early adopter as far as technology goes!

::Regards the electric lawnmower as dangerously avant garde, not to say cutting edge::

Oh Maud but I had plans for a little gift box of ladybirds that contained miniature ladybird houses and ladybird food stations so that all the ladybirds it contained thought they were on a little holiday. And now I find out that you were only joking!

All joking aside, if I thiought it was safe (and not cruel) to send ladybirds by post I'd be delighted to have them, although I fear that any Ladybird Taj Mahal constructed out of matchboxes wouldn't survive the rigours of the post!

Is there anything I should be doing with my rhubarb? Its been frosty and the leaves are laid rotting on the floor. Its the first year I've had it so not sure. We had one grew under a hedge when I was a child that was about 50 yr old. My Dad used to put a barrel over but can't quite remember when.

Should I be putting manure on them, covering them with a bucket, leaving well alone?

It is a Siberian plant so I expect it doesn't need much caring for....or does it?

I have just left my rhubarb to it so far MoreBeta - it seems to have worked so far.

I am still in MN Classic with no pages. None of this coloured stuff going on here at all. But I do have some hibernating ladybirds in the corner of my living room, they are huddled up above the door. There must be about twenty.

We have a wild rhubarb patch (presumably at some point it was planted on purpose); I do nothing to it but harvest it for a few weeks of the year. It's not a prize specimen by any means though.

Googled posting ladybirds - and found this:

ALLOWED IN THE POST...
Bees
Leeches
Silkworms
Caterpillars
Earthworms
Lugworms
Fish eggs
Maggots
Mealworms
Ragworms
...but only by Royal Mail and if in correct packaging

Not quite sure how you would send bees...

bpb you could probably get more out of that rhubarb if you dug it up and divided it. I'm probably not going to be able to resist having a couple of stalks off the ones I've just planted if they are growing well come the spring.

Interestingly, not pulling rhubarb after midsummer was one of the 'myths' that Alan Titchmarsh bust in a recent article in GW magazine.

I just cut down my autumn raspberries, and found a couple of ripe raspberries on one cane
I laid the canes on the veg patch to deter the (presumably) fox that thinks the patch is a toilet (and somehow wedges improbably large faeces in mere inches of bare soil)
The fox did make a start on digging up one of the parsnips, which has a 5 inch diameter crown, so may well be another foot-long leviathan.

5 inches!!! wide!!! pity there are no shows at this time of year!

what's your soil like, sun direction, compost/fertiliser policy? and what variety are you growing, and do they keep tasting good/better as they get bigger?

South facing garden, alluvial loamy soil in raised beds with sifted sand in.
Variety hundredweight, I did nothing special with them though, sprinkled the seeds on the surface among the garlic in late spring and left them to it.

I don't use fertiliser as the soil seems nice enough, I put a bit of compost on as a mulch but as it still has intact tea bags and egg shells it is probably not that decomposed.

They taste lovely at any size, I usually roast them with honey and garlic.

right so I shouldn't get my hopes up in my north facing heavy clay soil. I have some garlic rows I can plant between, though...

I have Brussels sprouts in the north facing front garden if that helps, they're about 3ft tall with an abundance of sprouts on them.
Raised beds will warm up faster, and fleece or poly tunnels will extend your growing season.
For some reason parsnips work well in my garden, but carrots are dire, never more than baby carrot size and mostly full of holes.

Hi, have been AWOL for ages as have had builders in and allotment and garden very neglected. I really need to get out there as still have spuds in the ground. Also Oca, Yacon, chard, Kale, swede, parsnips and celeriac . I'm moving plots and have to move my paths and raspberry bushes.

Did manage to plant some tulips in the garden. Next door but one's spring camellia is out again, as are some of my primroses and a Snapdragon. I have bought my neighbour an autumn flowering camellia from our local nursey who specialise in them. There's a lovely red one (Yuletide ) that the lady there said is usually in bloom at Christmas, am trying to be strong and wait for the sale ......

If anyone is after Sungold seeds, T&M have them for 10p a pack at the moment.

My monster parsnips are in raised beds too - I think my longest to date has been 16in - measured without the end that was still rooted in the ground! I don't do anything special to mine either but raised beds obviously suits them.

Anyone had much success with celeriac? Mine were all a bit pitiful (even the ones you donated Lex) so I'm thinking I'm probably not going to bother next year and try something else. I was quite fancying the Humbug Parsley that was featured in the RHS magazine this month.

My celeriac got eaten. I didn't have any parsnips in this year.

Merry Christmas, fellow gardeners! Hope everyone who was eating home-grown veg yesterday enjoyed them!

I have just spent four hours pottering in the garden and feel very much refreshed. I achieved a few goals that I had missed at the end of the summer, such as clearing out the last tomato plants and planting a couple of trays of violas.

Merry Christmas to you all from me too. Lots of lovely home-grown veg eaten yesterday thanks Maud.

Spent a happy hour this afternoon perusing the seed catalogue...roll on spring.