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carrots
quizknight
Posts: 8
in Fruit & veg
72 years old and suddenly a gardener .
last year we actually grew some veg instead of just mowing the lawn .good success with spuds , tomatoes , onions , but the carrots grew well and when we dug them up they looked great , left them on the garden table overnight ,and they went floppy ' what did i do wrong ?
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Posts
Did you leave the foliage attached? If so, that will draw out water and they will go floppy, so remove it as soon as you pull them. Carrots store well over the winter in damp (but not wet) sand, if you want to keep them fresh for as long as possible.
wonderfull bob , thats exactly what we did do . she was saying its a waste of timr planting them ,
Get the leaves off as soon as you pull them and if it is hot get them cooled down as fast as possible fridge is great if you don't have many. We're eating carrots now from a bucket of damp sand that were harvested in September, they're just starting to sprout now, but they probably have another month of good eating left on them.
PS I don't understand why people buy carrots with the tops on in supermarkets (unless you like the taste of tops) carrots with the tops will be limp and floppy pretty much overnight.
hey guys , also planted parsnips . would this also apply to them?
I usually leave parsnips in the ground until they are needed - they then last right until spring. The leaves will die over winter and if you see new leaves forming in the spring, pull them up and use them quick as they will go to flower and turn woody very quickly.
I'm happy for you, having carrots in your garden means ample supply of the vitamins that it could give. I'm sure that in your next harvest everything will turn out good. You can even sell them to your neighborhood. Good luck!
yes. Either leave them in the ground as Bob suggests, in which case don't worry about the leaves (they die back naturally without affecting the root condition), or lift them and take the leaves off, then you can store them in damp sand, or actually just in a paper bag somewhere dark works too if they are dry when you put them in. Don't wash them, just brush off the excess soil and let them dry before storing them. I have to lift mine after the first frost because if I leave them in the ground, rats and squirrels dig them up leaving me perfectly parsnip shaped holes in the ground (with leaves, in situ, suspended over the hole) and a really bad temper.
“It's still magic even if you know how it's done.”
Also, carrots and parsnips freeze very well, I grow plenty of both which last well into the winter. If left in the ground the slugs and voles will eat them.
Farmers leave carrots and parsnips in the ground and cover them over with straw to prevent the soil freezing hard - this way they can usually be harvested through most of the winter. If a hard freeze is forecast they will harvest extra in order to meet the demand during the freeze.
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
My first post of the forum..
I am a new gardener and have got carrots to plant. I didn't realise the tops made them go limp. very interesting and hopefully if mine grow. I'll know to take the tops off right away.