From the garden: Parsnips.
Parsnips
Harvest about 5½ pounds of parsnips. Most were like the ones in the middle of the above photo, about 7 inches long and about 2 inches in diameter. The smaller ones on the right were still usable.
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From containers that were overwintered in the garage: Carrots and Beets.
Carrots & Beets from Containers
The above carrots and beets were grown directly in containers, not transplants. Late last summer I had a couple of extra spare containers so decided to sow the leftover carrot and beet seeds in them, not sure if I would get a harvest but figured I had nothing to lose. Look at those baby carrots and beets! Munched on a few of the carrots, they were sweet and crunchy.
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From my foam ice chest garden (transplants): Leeks, Carrots and Celeriac.
Leeks, Carrots & Celeriac
In my 11/9/15 post (click on link and scroll down) I talked about an overwintering experiment with transplanted root crops. Photo below (taken 11/5/15) shows what my winter ice chest garden looked like with the transplanted leeks, carrots and celeriac.
Photo below (taken 3/20/16) shows what the ice chest garden looked like last week.
The celeriac leaves were the first to turn yellow and were removed in January. The carrot leaves were all yellowed. The outer leek greens yellowed as well but the inner leaves were light green and usable.
RESULTS: All 3 transplanted root crops, 2 leeks, 3 carrots and 2 celeriac, overwintered well in my garage, they were firm and the quality was excellent.
CONCLUSION: Am pleased with the results and consider the experiment a success. From now on I am definitely going to overwinter a good portion of my leeks, carrots and celeriac, beets also, using this method but will transplant each into its own foam ice chest as I think it will make harvesting throughout the winter easier.
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Copyright © by Norma Chang. All Rights Reserved. Do not use/repost any photos and/or articles without permission.
Do visit Dave at Our Happy Acres for more Harvest Monday
Garden to Wok 
5½ pounds of parsnips!!! That would cost some over here at this time of the year, Norma.
Hello Angie,
Parsnips are pricey this time of year in my part of the world also.
That is a lot of parsnips! I’ve never acquired a taste for them, though I am guessing when they are homegrown they are likely to be more flavorful.
Hello Dave,
I never bought parsnips from the food market so cannot make a comparison.
Hi Norma, Just to let you know that your post says “not found” after clicking. Ray
5 1/2 lbs, that;s a lot. Those carrots look delicious and sweet. 🙂
Hello Ray,
Parsnips keep well in the fridge so I will be enjoying them for a while. Yes, the carrots were crisp and sweet.
Hello Ray,
Thanks, I made a mistake and when I made the correction it did not reappear in subscribers e-mails.
Great looking parsnips! I’ll be giving those a try for the first time this year. And I really enjoy your experiments (as you know) – what great results you had with the ice chest! Does your garage get below freezing in the winter? Our garage is insulated, but because we do park our cars in there, the doors are always opening and closing, so the temps are only a few degrees better than outside.
Hello Margaret,
I don’t know if my garage gets below freezing in the winter, there are rooms above it but the garage door is not insulated so I guess it does get quite cold.
Great experiment Norma, thanks for sharing. I love parsnips, looks like you had quite a harvest.
Hello Cheri,
You are welcomed. Sure glad it was a success.
The vegetables look great, even the overly large parsnips (save them to make vegetable stock). The celery root looks fantastic too, I’m not a fan of the overly large ones and yours seem to be the perfect size.
Hello Eva,
The overly large parsnips was tender. I was really pleased at how well the celeriac overwintered, wish I had thought of the experiment years sooner.
What a great harvest! So glad to see your experiment worked! Hope you’re having a lovely week, Norma!
Hello Melissa,
Thanks, I am really glad my experiment worked. A lovely week to you too.
That’s an impressive haul of root veggies, Norma! So I have a (maybe) stupid question. Do you have, and do you need, light in your garage to overwinter these veggies or is the idea to allow the greens to go dormant and do a final feed to the root? I’ve had little success with root veg for a number of reasons, mostly lack of sun to grow them, so am not quite sure I understand what happens when transplanted and overwintered in a garage. 😉
Hello Betsy,
It is a very valid question. After transplanting the root crops in November I watered thoroughly and kept the container outdoor as long as possible but before the ground froze, I then bring the container into my garage where it remained until last month. There is no light in my garage reason the leaves yellowed. I checked the soil surface every now and then to make sure it is moist. I think the crops were dormant during this period, my experiment is for storage purpose as I do not have aa root cellar. Hope I helped, if you have further questions let me know.
Wow, what a lot of parsnips. I have just harvest the carrots from our garden. They are small but beautiful sweet.
Have a wonderful and happy week Norma.
🙂 Mandy xo
Hello Mandy,
Glad you had a successful gardening year. A wonderful and happy week to you too.