Identity Crisis?

I was up early and over the allotment before 9 am this morning to make the most of the dry weather. Dug up the last of the potatoes – three ‘Golden Wonder’ plants – a disappointing 12 ozs total from the 3 plants. Did some weeding, the juvenile robin making me jump with surprise when it darted between my legs to pick a tasty morsel unearthed by the fork. Harvested some more beans, beetroot, courgettes and carrots. One of the carrots looked to be having an identity crisis – in amongst the row of carrots, it had the normal carrot foliage but the root looked more like a parsnip (in the middle in the photo, between the orange carrot and the parsnip in the foreground). I showed it to Patrick (one of the 'old-timers') and his reaction was gratifyingly enthusiastic, comparing it to his own carrots and parsnips and saying he’d never seen anything like it. Encouraged by this satisfactory response, when Paul arrived on the neighbouring plot I showed it to him. “Oh yes, a white carrot. I’ve seen that before” he said dismissively, then realised this wasn't the desired response and apologised for bursting my bubble.

Ok, I knew white carrots existed, I’ve seen them in the seed catalogues, but not having knowingly sown any white carrot seeds, it was a surprise.

Rain in the afternoon gave me the excuse not to do any more over the allotment today. Instead I sat at the computer and responded to an email from someone I knew when I was at school, the connection facilitated by friendsreunited.com. I looked through some old photos and scanned a couple in to accompany the email. It was a pleasant way to while away a rainy afternoon.