12. Mar, 2020

Composting Parsnips

Composting Parsnips

One of the pleasures of community composting on an allotment you never know what will be in the reception bin on any given day.

This week  we had more sprout stalks as another plot holder cleared their plot (more of these later) and a batch of parsnips. Normally there are relatively few parsnips to compost as they are not a crop which is allowed to go to waste in the ground but this year it was so wet many could not be dug and were lef to go woody.

Parsnips can be composted quite easily provided they are cut  into small pieces to present as large a surface area to the composting microbes as possible. If there are only one or two,  they can be easily cut with a spade but where there a couple of dozen I find it easier to use a hatchet to cut them into suitable pieces for composting.  This weeks offering provide enough cut material to fill a plastic trug enabling it to be shared across three bins. The photo shows the tug of cut parsnip ready to be added to our  Rowlinson Beehive to show household gardeners that a bin can be an attractive feature in the garden as well as a practical tool.