Re: Carrot Week 2012!

plantoid 7/23/2012, 12:22 am

KKB & others those mis-shaped carrots are usually the result of sowing in an over nitrogen rich soil & a bit of erratic watering .. did you use fertilizer on them by any chance

The extra legs are the nitrogen effect and the spare tyre type rings are the watering inconsistancies

kbb964 7/24/2012, 9:00 am

AVA I want YOUR Carrots !

Plantoid, there was I thinking Root Knot? Someone mentioned it before.

I am sad....... I watered regularly same time each day, everyday Sad

Nitrogen? gawd I have no idea, yes they were fertilized at some point with a side dressing of organic goodness.

I live and learn

kbb964 7/24/2012, 9:01 am

OH! does this mean maybe my Parsnips will look like that ? or does it only affect the carrots?

kbb964 7/24/2012, 4:43 pm

Did a bit of research and I am almost sure that my forked carrots are because i moved them ( transplanted) silly me but probably the nitrogen too!

I checked the short n sweets that will be ready in the next week and perfectly straight! I did not move those.

AvaDGardner 7/24/2012, 4:59 pm

kbb964 wrote:AVA I want YOUR Carrots !

Thank you

. If you look back on my Garden Adventure thread you can see my first batch was as odd as yours, only larger. I'd give you a pic but it's not on this 'puter.

The nitrogen connection could be the thing. The first batch went it as soon as my garden was ready in March and nitrogen was really high. REALLY HIGH! Violet Blue-Red high. This batch were planted in April. Now that some things have been growing, I'm sure some of the nitrogen is used up a bit, and these were normal shaped.

I'm putting the big one in the salad today...I'll think of you at dinner!

Gotta go make it now!

Ava

kbb964 7/24/2012, 5:06 pm

I just scrubbed the last of the Nantes ready for dinner !

I have 2 squares of short n sweet ready soon. I am going to try a second planting as I have about 9 squares empty!

plantoid 7/24/2012, 6:05 pm

kbb964 wrote:OH! does this mean maybe my Parsnips will look like that ? or does it only affect the carrots?

If over fertilized ..
They tend to only run to golf ball sized roots with several feeder roots .. abit like a fat whiteish spider with thick tapering short legs and no decent long tap root .

They also have loads of greenery which makes you think they will be fantastic. they also taste rathr like turpentin e smells if eaten within a few hiurs of bein g harvested ..
Parsnips are like brussels sprouts & other brassicas ....they are much better after a decent frost

Windsor.Parker 8/4/2012, 12:37 pm

All my carrots for Carrot Week were pulled 4 days ago! Here's a snapshot.
Carrot Week 2012! - Page 15 Imga0710

**Turan** 8/4/2012, 1:54 pm

Nice bunch of carrots there! I notice you also planted closer than 16/sq. You inspired me to go and pull my Carrot week square as well. I got just over 2 pounds.
Carrot Week 2012! - Page 15 12-aug10

The tallest and one with 3 legs.
Carrot Week 2012! - Page 15 12-aug11

Speaking of interplanting~ here are the onions that grew between the 3 squares of carrots.
Carrot Week 2012! - Page 15 12-aug12

CapeCoddess 8/4/2012, 6:15 pm

Wow you guys! Nice carrots! Mine were finger sized.

Live and learn. Good carrots come to those who wait.

My next batch are 9 wks old right now. I'm holding off on pulling for as long a possible, plus I don't see any shoulders yet.

CC

ericam 8/5/2012, 3:10 am

My Carrot Week carrots are still nowhere near ready to pick, it's been a cold winter here (well, cold as it gets in Sydney!) and my vege patch gets less sun than I thought in winter so it's all pretty slow.

I've had a feel in the soil but can't really feel any shoulders, is it OK to leave them? Will they keep growing and be OK or am I wasting my time?

Goosegirl 8/5/2012, 6:42 am

Ericam:

Let them stay for a while. I am in South Dakota, USA and am having the opposite problem - it has been too HOT for my carrots to form well! Some that have been shaded have gotten big enough to be pulled (Cosmic Purples - YUM!) but my Carrot Week carrots will have to stay in the ground for probably another month before I can pull them/

GG

ericam 8/20/2012, 3:53 am

Thanks GG, I left them in and they are slowly starting to get shoulders now. They might have grown a bit faster except they are now totally shaded by my broccoli that went crazy!

Carrot Week 2012! - Page 15 09311cf1bccd76bd1fc1357ad69f429e

Carrot Week 2012! - Page 15 09311cf1bccd76bd1fc1357ad69f429e

So am I the only one still with Carrot Week carrots?

Goosegirl 8/20/2012, 9:12 am

I'm still with you! Pulled more Cosmic Purples yesterday, along with a few Chantenays and one Atomic Red, but my Carrot Week Nantes are still a bit puny to pull. I will probably leave them in until sometime in September.

GG

CapeCoddess 8/20/2012, 3:19 pm

So...you guys are growing carrots from April to Sept??? Is that normal?

CC

Pollinator 8/20/2012, 3:59 pm

CapeCoddess wrote:So...you guys are growing carrots from April to Sept??? Is that normal?

CC

That sounds about right for a warm climate like Sidney. Here in coastal South Carolina, we grow our best carrots from September to June or July. It's nice to have a continuous supply from December to mid-summer. I'm getting a bed of carrots ready for planting right now. I planted this bed about three weeks ago, before vacation, but nothing germinated - too hot. Now it's a bit cooler and I'm here to water every day, so I'll do it again. We generally have about three beds, and I like the Chantenay best, as they are amenable to being planted thickly, and they are slow to bolt. As we pull the bigger ones, the smaller ones come on.

CapeCoddess 8/20/2012, 5:25 pm

I don't know, Pollinator...seems like growing the same carrot square for 5 mths is a bit lengthy. I took my Carrot Week carrots out after they grew for about 3 months or so and they were 6 inches at best. Maybe if I'd left them alone they would have grown bigger? But I thought I'd read that they would get woody if left in the heat.

Any succession carrot squares I've planted since are very small but I'm thinking that now that the cooler weather is here they may do better? I stuck a ton of seeds in with my tomatoes recently and I'm hoping for the best. bounce

CC

ericam 8/20/2012, 6:01 pm

5 months probably is a long time but don't forget I'm on the other side of the world so mine are growing through winter here. Not only is it cold but I discovered that my vege beds don't get a lot of sun during winter, about 3-4 hours at the most on the shortest days. Now that the days are getting longer and the angle of the sun is changing I'm getting a lot more sun and they are starting to take off.

The carrots I planted in Feb and March were eaten long ago, they took the usual 3 months.

Goosegirl 8/20/2012, 6:23 pm

My Carrot Week carrots are in boxes that get shaded by a shed in the afternoon so they are quite a bit behind my colored carrots that are in the boxes on the west side of the shed but were planted a few weeks later. Now that I have had a bit more experience with my boxes I know to put broccoli, lettuce, and such in the east boxes that get more shade time, and I will put my beans, carrots, squash, and such in the west boxes. I am going to try some carrots to overwinter. It's only seeds!

GG

**RoOsTeR** 8/20/2012, 6:40 pm

I don't know, Pollinator...seems like growing the same carrot square for 5 mths is a bit lengthy. I took my Carrot Week carrots out after they grew for about 3 months or so and they were 6 inches at best. Maybe if I'd left them alone they would have grown bigger? But I thought I'd read that they would get woody if left in the heat.

I've still got original Carrot Week carrots in the box, plus several squares planted the week after. I've always found carrots to take much longer than the packet says. I planted carrots earlier in the season than I usually do, just for Carrot Week. Part of Carrot Weeks original intent was to see how carrots perform in different climates, planted at the same time all across the country and even other parts of the world.

**camprn** 8/20/2012, 10:27 pm

RoOsTeR wrote:
I don't know, Pollinator...seems like growing the same carrot square for 5 mths is a bit lengthy. I took my Carrot Week carrots out after they grew for about 3 months or so and they were 6 inches at best. Maybe if I'd left them alone they would have grown bigger? But I thought I'd read that they would get woody if left in the heat.

I've still got original Carrot Week carrots in the box, plus several squares planted the week after. I've always found carrots to take much longer than the packet says. I planted carrots earlier in the season than I usually do, just for Carrot Week. Part of Carrot Weeks original intent was to see how carrots perform in different climates, planted at the same time all across the country and even other parts of the world.

I have most of my carrot week carrots still in the garden. carrots, beets and Brussels sprouts seem to take forever. And in the case of carrots and BS, they are tastier after a kiss of frost.

Pollinator 8/20/2012, 11:01 pm

CapeCoddess wrote:I don't know, Pollinator...seems like growing the same carrot square for 5 mths is a bit lengthy.

I would never have believed it - if I hadn't experienced it - two years in a row now. They never get real large, but have always been sweet and tender. I keep expecting them to get poor quality and to bolt, but they haven't done so.

Apparently they are in late enough in the fall, so the urge to bolt isn't triggered. Or else it's a result of close planting. I don't know. We started havesting in December. January and February; they only grew a little, but they resumed good growth by late February, and the little ones fill in as fast as we pull the bigger ones. It's hard to believe we still have a few left.

I also had some purple ones - finished those up last week. They were larger, but the top inch was woody and had to be cut off.

**camprn** 8/20/2012, 11:05 pm

Carrots are biennial. They won't bolt until year two.
http://www.carrotmuseum.co.uk/seeds.html

darci.strutt 8/24/2012, 12:22 am

MM has given me wonderful carrots for the first time ever! I'm enjoying each and every one!

Carrot Week 2012! - Page 15 P1010710

landarch 8/24/2012, 8:42 am

Darci, vey nice....I just noticed my carrot seedlings up in the fall garden...a bit slower than beets, lettuce, and spinach so it's fun to finally see them come up...plust my 2- year old daughter got into the carrot seeds (she knows how to get seeds out of the packet, put them in your hand, poke a hole in the dirt, drop in a seed, and cover it up) and I can finally tell where she did her "work"...I did 23 squares of carrots.

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