Thursday, January 12, 2012

2011 Lettuce, Radish, Carrot, Parsnip Reviews


Lettuce- I grew the following varities: Black Seeded Simpson, New Red Fire, Beleah Rose, Red Sails, Arugula, Baby Romaine, Rouge d'Hiver, Buttercrunch, Q's Specialty Mix, Space Spinach, New Zealand Spinach, Vegetable Amaranth, and Mache.  All were disappointing.  I don't know if I got my lettuce in too late or not but by the time they got large enough to pick all the lettuce was bitter.  In the Fall it was the same story.  Some of the following varieties completely fell flat and didn't even germinate.  I will try a few again but overall I am doing a major overhaul in picking lettuces this year.  We eat lots of salad and we want lots of lettuce to pick next year.

Radishes - I grew the following varieties: Cherry Belle, Purple Plum, and French Breakfast.  I loved the colors this year.  I'm not sure if I left them in the ground too long but they all seemed to be a bit hot and too spicy for my liking.  They were all also smaller than I would like so I am going to try different varities.

Carrots - This year I tried Red Cored Chatenay and Cosmic Purple.  I was seduced by the colors of these carrots and thought I would give them a try.  They were ok but I wasn't in love with their flavor.  And for the amount of work it takes to carefully seed them and thin them I'm not sure if I will include them next year.  I really want to try some winter varieties that are supposed to get sweeter with frosts.


Hollow Crown Parsnips - This was my first year for parsnips and I loved growing them.  Many were much larger than I anticipated and I delighted in having a late fall harvest.  Some of the roots were weirdly shaped and mangled but overall I was very pleased with them and will definitely be planting them again.

1 comment:

  1. I wish there was a "like" button on your blog, for I would have "liked" your parsnips.

    ReplyDelete