I love old traditional phrases like “That won’t butter any parsnips”. It is has been handed down through the generations and means “That’s no good “. It derives from the 1600’s when parsnips were a regular part of the diet and butter was used to make the vegetable a bit more tasty.

However, what do you do say when the parsnips themselves are no good ?

This is one of my allotment failures. I don’t know what I am doing wrong. The plant itself look very healthy and I was went to dig them up they looked like this.

I am always grateful for a spot of wise guidance…..