The Spiral of Gardening

The joys of spring include the leftover garden bits from the previous year. Now's the time to dig parsnips, so that's what LD and I did today. She's holding up one of the better ones. Quite a few thought they were turnips, then went all uddery - 4 or 5 taproots heading in different directions. They looked like a root veggie being run by a committee! Pretty hairy, too. How does one radicle, emerging from a seed, with one meristem, split into so many? It's not that hard; it's called Follow-The-Leader. Divide, elongate, specialize, got it?

This year, I'll need to do something close to double-digging their bed, and beefing up the fertility. Oh, and some more water would be good. Susan Weed's book Healing Wise mentions a burdock tea for parsnips. The kids like them, so I'll try anything to get a good batch.

This warm weather has me thinking hard about planting peas. Sure, many folks have already done that, but up here the end of March often brings a nasty snowstorm. This year we may be over 60 degrees! A double-lamb March. A couple days ago, I sowed Asian greens and arugula in the cold frame. Peas and turnips are the next things on the calendar. Somebody talk me down from the composter bin before I jump!