Turnip-rooted Chervil - Anyone grown before?

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Stonecoloured
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Location: Luton

Good morning all,

Wasn't sure where to put this, here or in seasonal.

I've ordered some root vegetables, to grow in the planters...

However, Turnip-rooted Chervil seems to be different..
From reading up, they're best in their own container... (which rules them out from the planters) they seem to be treated like horseradish, but there's very little on the web about them.

Has anyone grown them before and do you have any tips? I've got a container for them to grow solely in, but I'm not sure about planting spaces ect...

Thank you.

Stonecoloured
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FelixLeiter
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Turnip-Rooted Chervil (Chaerophyllum bulbosum) was once widely grown in Victorian times but has since fallen out of favour. I have attempted to grow it on two occasions. It is not easy, certainly not as easy as horseradish, to which it has no relation. Germinating the seed can be erratic, and autumn sowing is recommended in order for the seed to be subject to cold, to break dormancy. It is slow to develop initially which means the seedlings can be overwhelmed by weeds in no time. The mature tubers are not very large, smaller than most early carrots. And they're a magnet for mice, which means you may not get near the crop when it's ready. It may be that there was once many varieties which germinated readily and yielded larger roots, but those varieties have, I suspect, disappeared long ago. The late Brian Haynes at the former Glasshouse Crops Research Institute was working on selecting varieties for yield and better germination. I don't know if his work was continued.
Allotment, but little achieved.
Stonecoloured
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Joined: Sun Aug 31, 2014 10:17 am
Location: Luton

Thank you for the additional details - they sound challenging, but rewarding.

Would you say once it's established it's a stable/good root to have, or is it just a "novel" veg to try once and then move onto something else?

Thank you for the heads up about the weeds. Planning to keep it in it's own container, so it'll be fairly easy to weed. Thankfully we don't have mice, but we do have a squirrel... will keep an eye out for digging! I'll make sure it goes through a cold spell, as you recommended.

Just tried looking for Brian Haynes's work, however it doesn't seem to come up. Will keep digging.

Thank you for your help.
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FelixLeiter
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Stonecoloured wrote:Would you say once it's established it's a stable/good root to have, or is it just a "novel" veg to try once and then move onto something else?

I cannot say for certain. I think it's fair to say that if it was worthwhile, it'd be more commonplace. It just needs for a few trendy chefs to start raving about it for the ball to start rolling (viz. kalettes).
Stonecoloured wrote:Thank you for the heads up about the weeds. Planning to keep it in it's own container, so it'll be fairly easy to weed.

There's no telling how it will grow in a container. Me, I cannot endorse growing root crops in containers. Most roots require a good depth and breadth of soil to prosper (except for potatoes, but then they are not actually roots). But if you don't have a garden, there's no alternative.
Stonecoloured wrote:Just tried looking for Brian Haynes's work, however it doesn't seem to come up. Will keep digging.

You won't find much about Brian on the world wide internet. His work was some time ago now, and behind closed doors. He may have published a few papers, I don't know. He was a plant scientist of the old school, using traditional techniques of selection from seedlings of wild ancestors of crops as our forebears would have done, away from the laboratory — a man outstanding in his field! I was immensely pleased to discover recently that there's a sweet pea named in his honour.
Allotment, but little achieved.
PLUMPUDDING
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The ones I grew were quite small. They tasted pleasant enough, but some were damaged with carrot root fly, so you need to cover them.
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