Conclusion on carrots
cleaning carrots
We planted over 6000 carrot seeds this year. An equal mix of Atomic Red, Cosmic Purple, Lunar White, Amarillo Yellow, Shin Kuroda (orange), and Thumbelina (round). We planted them in succession beginning in April, and planted weekly for a few weeks, then went to every other week, and laid the last seeds in June. We were disappointed they were not growing, then found out they were growing, but deer were eating them. The deer somehow managed to eat the carrot greens but leave the weeds next to them untouched ( which is why we thought they just were not growing. We eventually covered them with remay and with in days we could see carrot greens. We decided at that point to let them grow as long as possible to try and maximize our harvest.
We harvested last week, and didn’t get to many. Out of 6000 seeds how many carrots would you expect? 5000? 3000? 1000? We got maybe a few hundred if we stretch. Once scrubbed and sliced, I have 2 large ziplocs in the freezer (and we only ate 8 fresh – we taste tested each variety).
We will plant carrots again next year, but we have learned a few things this year. For starters, deer like carrot greens, alot. We will employ tinyfarmers burlap method for germination. We will cover with remay immediately or plant them in a hoop house (we are hoping to build one this winter). We will also most likely do 2 or 3 large sowings and not attempt to sow a few a week.
On the varieties they do all taste different, and we have our favorites, but will most likely plant all colors again because they are so pretty when mixed together and do hold their colors when cooked (at least they did for me). What I didn’t know before this, is apparently I did not know what a carrot is supposed to taste like, I was so used to store bought “baby” carrots, I didn’t realize the true flavor. And honestly thought something was wrong with our carrots, because they didn’t taste the same, until after the taste test and Aba and I were comparing notes on them and I mentioned they seemed bitter (or not sweet). While we will plant all colors next year, we most likely will use different varieties next time.
We cover ours with deer netting during the growing season and that lets in light but keeps the nibblers at bay. We have not decided on what type of deer fencing to install yet, but are leaning towards a 8′ permanent fence as we have elk problems also.
Something we tried a couple years ago and will continue is to plant our carrots in half 15-gallon plastic barrels. We bored drainage holes and filled them with compost and sand. Our soil is so heavy that without years of amendments you can’t grow carrots at all so the barrels were a good compromise. Also by putting them right next to the back door I can keep the varmints out of them.
How sad is my life that I have never even HEARD of carrots that are any color besides orange?