This year I have been making an effort to grow what we eat lot of successfully. Three notable problematic crops have been carrots, coriander and parsley. Carrots were the subject of my last post. What about coriander and parsley? I grew both at home in old supermarket boxes (with holes drilled in the bottom). The coriander was a success - but short lived as they turned to seed as they always do in the garden, but maybe not quite so fast. A further sowing was dug up by some animal agency and never passed the germination stage. My hopes were still high for parsley, which looked healthy enough about 4 weeks ago (above). Half the box is flat leaf and half curled parsley. Sadly the whole crop has succumbed to a root rot of some kind (Fusarium?). I had started some light trimming, but then growth stopped, yellowing of leaves and stalks was followed by reddening/browning. So I pulled them up and examined the roots. Not a pretty sight!!!
The parsley in the raised beds also succumbed. It seems the recent wet weather is the immediate cause. Time to start again, using sterilised compost, lots of grit ensuring no waterlogging occurs under any circumstances. Of course parsley takes ages to germinate so I think I will pot out a supermaarket "living herb" pot. Ho Hum...
No comments:
Post a Comment