This was my first time growing carrots, and whilst I could have been happier with the results, it would not be by much. Despite slight rodentous setbacks in the spring and some minor slug trouble throughout, the final result exceeds expectations.
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They could be left in the ground and still grow for a bit, but some plants caught powdery mildew on their leaves, so I decided to harvest them all at once. I did not expect that I would fill a wheelbarrow to the extent that it nearly disappears under the leaves.
© Charly, all rights reserved. Click for full size.
I rinsed them in the wheelbarrow, I laid them out like rabbits after a hunt, and I took my parents out to admire them.
© Charly, all rights reserved. Click for full size.
© Charly, all rights reserved. Click for full size.
© Charly, all rights reserved. Click for full size.
The seed packets said that this variety can grow up to 17 cm in length. I had many that exceeded that, which I did not expect. And I certainly did not expect a 25 cm long, 7 cm thick, and 835 gram heavy behemoth. This single carrot is more than we usually eat in a fortnight. I have never seen a carrot this big.
© Charly, all rights reserved. Click for full size.
© Charly, all rights reserved. Click for full size.
© Charly, all rights reserved. Click for full size.
As a Terry Pratchett fan, I would feel cheated if my multifurcated carrots did not produce at least some humorous-looking vegetables. I did not get any that look like a man’s, you know… unless you really, really want to see it. But I did get one that looks like a tentacular horror from nightmares. It was not the biggest one, but it was respectably big nevertheless. Apart from that, I had fewer multifurcated roots than I expected, which is a good sign.
Thus, the conclusion to this year’s carrot experiment is a good one. I harvested 13.8 kg of reasonably sized carrot roots, and it would be more if not for the rodents. I haven’t seen any root damaged by carrot flies or wireworms, so pairing the carrots with onions appears to have worked against these particular pests. Planting pre-germinated seeds in paper egg trays worked really well, too, although the carrots were a bit cramped towards the end of the year (no wonder, they got huge). Next year, I will probably tear off individual egg cups from the trays and space them out a tiny bit more, now that I know the roots can get thicker than my wrist.
I sorted out all the small ones, cut them into pieces, and put them into the freezer. I am considering what to do with the big ones. We cannot eat them all now, we cannot freeze them, and I do not have the space to store them fresh for long either. I will probably dehydrate some and can some too. The dehydrators are currently full of plums, but that should be finished tomorrow, or on Monday at the least.
wooo! congrats!
Glad to hear at least one of you plantings worked out, after so many having a rough year.
Would pickling them be an option? around here, some of the taco trucks will add a little bag of pickled carrots and jalapenos to an order, and while I don’t have much tolerance for spiciness, i avoid the jalapenos, but the pickled carrots are pretty good.
@lochaber, they can be pickled, but we did add some carrots to the mix with pumpkins and peppers last year, so we are set probably for more than a year on that front. I think dehydrating a lot is the way to go, not only to get some use out of my dehydrators, but also because dehydrated foods have a really long shelf life and they do not take much space.
I have heard that carrots can be kept in damp sand in a cool, dark place. I think you must clip off the leaves so they don’t dry out too fast. Put them in the sand the same way they grew, and if any grow a lot of new leaves, I would eat those first. Also, I would use several fairly small sand containers in case a few carrots rot, so they can’t infect the whole crop.
If you want to have some fun with those big ones, you can cut them into wide “planks” 4-5 mm thick. You can buy small vegetable cutters that are like cookie cutters but sharper. I have one that cuts little lobsters and one that cuts crabs. Make up a good pot of soup and toss your carrot shapes in about 15 minutes before serving so they don’t get too soft and fall apart. You can also just use a small knife to cut out rabbit shapes or anything else you can think of.
That looks like a fine harvest.Maybe I’ll try carrots again next year. I do love them and we eat them in so many ways, soups, stews, sauces…