TURNIPS -- SWEDES -- LEEKS 1 -- ONIONS -- PARSNIPS: 30 April 2004
DC e-mails: Vegetables not mentioned in the book: Turnips, Swedes and Leeks. Am I right in thinking that I should treat turnips and swedes just like parsnips, as they are all root crops (obviously, I can check the packet for sowing month, depth and distance between rows)? I can't really think of a comparison in the book to leeks, but I guess they are a root crop and as such should be treated like parsnips (in the sense of what to do when the moon is in the right phase)?
R J Harris replies: "Turnips and swedes are root vegetables, leeks are not.
"For an instruction on growing turnips and swedes, look at the parsnip section of 'R J Harris's Moon Gardening'. The parsnip is a root vegetable. All three have a lot in common, especially where the moon is concerned.
"For leeks, look at the section on onions. The leek is grown like the onion -- and, again, especially when you see it from the point of view of moon cultivation.
"As a matter of interest, bear in mind that, like the onion, the leek is both an above-the-ground-surface developer and a below-the-ground-surface developer. Just looking at it as it grows in its bed tells you that. It means that its seeds can be sown, or its plantlets can be inserted, at the start of the first quarter of the moon or the second quarter. Personally, I prefer the first quarter. Then, seed and plantlet have the benefit of the longest period of increasing moisture in the top soil and pressure from the rising water table.
"The manual explains all of this more fully."
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