Preparation for the Countryside Days event and a very tall parsnip plant

Gardener Steve briefing Sue and John on the properties of  liquorice

Our very tall parsnip plant has been growing for two years!

This afternoon there was a lot of interest in the office when one of our gardeners, Steve, brought a box of specially selected produce from the Walled Garden in for the learning team. There was liquorice, mint of various varieties such as black peppermint and ginger mint, and vegetables with flowers such as chives and the rather long parsnip pictured above!

The produce is for use at theYorkshire Agricultural Society's Countryside Days event this week, where school children from around Yorkshire are invited to find out about life in the country. The children who visit Beningbrough's stand will find out what grows in the Walled Garden, and then get to make an Arcimboldo style collage, which is a great activity for kids learning about fruit and veg.

Not everyone realises that vegetables grow flowers too, and our extaordinary parsnip plant provides a nice example of what root veg do in year two, when they start putting energy into producing seeds. They also become quite difficult to manoeuvre around an office!