The ground hasn't frozen yet! If you still have carrots in the ground go pull them! I just pulled these a few days ago. While they don't look fantastic, they tasted pretty good. I washed them and peeled them and put them in a bowl.
If you know you are not going to be using your carrots right away, put them in a bowl of water. Carrots out of the garden only last about day without water and then they shrivel up into gross little things.
If you notice, some of my carrots are twisty, this is because I planted them too close together.
Gardening tip: When planting carrot seeds, scatter them all in a row about and inch or two below the soil. You want to till your soil so it is nice and soft. The delicate tip of the carrot is the part that grows down so it needs soft soil.
Here is the hard part. When they come up, you have to thin them. This means you have to pull carrots that are too close together and toss them so the existing carrots have room to grow. I didn't do this. I don't have the heart to pull up something I grew unless it is to eat it. Thus, my carrots are twisty and all tangled together. Maybe next year I will learn...
Because the carrot grows underground it is sometimes hard to tell when they are ready. Often times the head of the carrot will pop above the soil and start to turn green. Like potatoes, any part of the plant that touches sun will turn bitter, green, and not delicious. When the head of the carrot pops out of the soil, harvest it!
If you know you are not going to be using your carrots right away, put them in a bowl of water. Carrots out of the garden only last about day without water and then they shrivel up into gross little things.
If you notice, some of my carrots are twisty, this is because I planted them too close together.
Gardening tip: When planting carrot seeds, scatter them all in a row about and inch or two below the soil. You want to till your soil so it is nice and soft. The delicate tip of the carrot is the part that grows down so it needs soft soil.
Here is the hard part. When they come up, you have to thin them. This means you have to pull carrots that are too close together and toss them so the existing carrots have room to grow. I didn't do this. I don't have the heart to pull up something I grew unless it is to eat it. Thus, my carrots are twisty and all tangled together. Maybe next year I will learn...
Because the carrot grows underground it is sometimes hard to tell when they are ready. Often times the head of the carrot will pop above the soil and start to turn green. Like potatoes, any part of the plant that touches sun will turn bitter, green, and not delicious. When the head of the carrot pops out of the soil, harvest it!
Gardening tip: The first year of a carrot's life it grows a big root, which we eat. If you leave it in the ground the carrot will come back for a second year. On the second year it will grow, and flower. If you leave it even longer the flower will dry out and you get carrot seeds! Carrots only flower on their second year. Last year I left about three carrot plants in the ground for a second year. They flowered and as the flowers produced seeds and dried, I cut them and saved them. That is what you see in my mini bucket. I now have enough seeds for years of carrot crops! All you really have to do is neglect a few plants. Easy to do!
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