Re: Carrot Week 2013

FamilyGardening 4/14/2013, 4:04 am

Nonna.PapaVino wrote:Rose, Inquiring minds want to know: Do you use tweezers to plant the tiny wet seeds? Or, as a friend used to say: "How dey do dat?" BTW, last fall I planted some overwintering carrots, which we are just now starting to pull to eat--they're totally delicious! After this small success, I shall triple the planting of overwintering carrots! (this past winter was our first attempt at full-sail winter gardening) Nonna

with carrots we pat them dry with a papper towel..... Razz

and then sprinkle a few into 16 spots .....

but ......we did use tweezer to plant parsnips that we had soaked in paper towels before planting Razz

....because the seeds get little tails and you have to be carefull when sowing them not to break their tails off..... tongue

our fall planting and over winter carrots are still growing and looking good....have not had any to eat just yet....they are still not that fat yet....but we are hoping to get to eat some soon :drunken:

happy gardening
rose

Icemaiden 4/14/2013, 11:13 am

I've done mine Very Happy

I sowed two squares of Rainbow F1 which is Nantes-type, pale yellow through to white in colour. One square I sprinkled in as usual, the other I soaked the seed overnight - it would have made sense to soak it for longer I guess but I didn't think of it until yesterday and I wanted to get it done this weekend. At the moment the temperature is 5°C so I'm not sure there is going to be much springing into action in any case.

CapeCoddess 4/14/2013, 11:16 am

Icemaiden wrote:I've done mine

One square I sprinkled in as usual, the other I soaked the seed overnight

Will you let us know if there's a noticeable difference please?

CC

Icemaiden 4/14/2013, 11:21 am

CapeCoddess wrote:
Icemaiden wrote:I've done mine

One square I sprinkled in as usual, the other I soaked the seed overnight

Will you let us know if there's a noticeable difference please?

CC

Yes, of course Smile

yolos 4/14/2013, 11:25 am

Okay, I just planted my two squares of Carnival Blend Carrots from Botanical Interests for carrot week. I also soaked them overnight. Combined with the 8 squares I planted earlier, that makes 10 squares. Way too many for this family of three. But I was experimenting with the first 8 squares. Planting them 2 weeks apart beginning 2/10/13 and ending today 4/14/13. So we shall see when is the best time to plant carrots in 7b/8a (at least this year, who knows what will come in terms of weather next year).

CapeCoddess 4/14/2013, 11:45 am

Icemaiden wrote:I've done mine

One square I sprinkled in as usual, the other I soaked the seed overnight

Will you let us know if there's a noticeable difference please?

CC

quiltbea 4/14/2013, 1:01 pm

Its overcast and will freeze tonite once again, but I sowed Cosmic Purple carrots (Thank You Gwennifer) in a single square which I can cover over tonite against the cold.
I soaked some yesterday but they were too hard to handle and sow them, so I added more dry seeds to the rows to compensate. I guess one should dry the wet seeds with paper towels a bit before sowing them wet? Anyway, I think I'm good for this fun challenge.

R&R 1011 4/15/2013, 9:20 pm

I planted 4 squares of Kaleidoscope mix tonight next to the 4 squares of Scarlett Nantes and Danvers I planted last week. As I was getting the netting out to cover my freshly planted carrots, my evil cat peed in one of my carrot squares! Evil or Very Mad

Ughhhhh, I told my husband those will be the square of carrots we give away. lol!

Excited to partake in carrot week.

**RoOsTeR** 4/16/2013, 7:48 am

Lol, the neighbors carrots! Carrot Week 2013 - Page 8 3170584802

Lindacol 4/16/2013, 7:22 pm

I planted one square each Atomic Red and Amarillo (yellow) yesterday with seeds that were soaked overnite and another square each (plus filled empty parts of another couple of squares) with with dry seeds. Sort of an experiment, as carrots are sort of hit & miss for me. These went in my bed #1, the block bed which is deeper.

Goosegirl 4/16/2013, 7:26 pm

Planted my new 1x2 indoor box today - 1 square of Cosmic Purple, 1 square of Kaleidoscope Mix. Another Winter Storm Watch for tomorrow lots o

.

GG

emadethis 4/17/2013, 9:04 am

Cosmic purple is in the mail for me + an organic carrot mix. I think the kids are going to love the carrots. We still have snow here, but it looks like 50ish come the weekend--am I good to plant seeds, do I need to protect them somehow, or should I wait?

mollyhespra 4/20/2013, 10:15 pm

I have SPROUTS!!! carrot

Planted on 4-15 into the mini size soil blocks, started peeping out yesterday, today broke the surface & tomorrow they're going into their new home: toilet paper tube planters under grow lights.

I've been collecting tubes & having friends collect them for me, because it's way too early for me to plant the seedlings outside.

I stapled the sides of the tubes to each other in order to get them to stand up & tonight I filled them up and watered them down so hopefully the wee tap roots won't mind being transplanted when the time comes. I'll take pics & post tomorrow.

P.S. Entre nous, I'm not too optimistic about these tubes; the spacing seems too close, but we'll see!

mollyhespra 4/20/2013, 10:19 pm

emadethis wrote:Cosmic purple is in the mail for me + an organic carrot mix. I think the kids are going to love the carrots. We still have snow here, but it looks like 50ish come the weekend--am I good to plant seeds, do I need to protect them somehow, or should I wait?

What zone are you in? If it's too early for you to plant outside, you're welcome to join me in the paper tube experiment or you could plant them into a bucket & just grow them there. Carrot roots don't like to be moved; they get all forked & weird looking, but maybe your kids would like the effect!

**Turan** 4/20/2013, 10:26 pm

I managed to plant 3 squares today. One square of Rainbow blend, one of Purple Sun, and one of Nantes for a control Razz

They are covered with black weedcloth to keep them warm. So we will see.

jazzycat 4/20/2013, 10:31 pm

Well, I still have not planted any carrots. Darnit. Not sure where to put them. My garden squares are mostly full. I suppose I could plant a few in the end squares that don't have anything in them yet... I wanted to make a smaller tabletop box for greens and carrots, but I've already planted greens with my maters.

mollyhespra 4/20/2013, 10:44 pm

Turan wrote:I managed to plant 3 squares today. One square of Rainbow blend, one of Purple Sun, and one of Nantes for a control They are covered with black weedcloth to keep them warm. So we will see.

Wow, so your ground is workable? I thought you guys got hit with more snow recently. Good luck with those carrots!

**Turan** 4/20/2013, 11:01 pm

mollyhespra wrote:
Turan wrote:I managed to plant 3 squares today. One square of Rainbow blend, one of Purple Sun, and one of Nantes for a control They are covered with black weedcloth to keep them warm. So we will see.

Wow, so your ground is workable? I thought you guys got hit with more snow recently. Good luck with those carrots!

It has been really weird weather. It keeps snowing and the snow melts during the day. The ground is amazingly warm and workable yet this week has been below freezing and down into the teens. I have been thinking of putting plastic over the squares as well, a mini greenhouse.

I think people east of me are getting the fuller affect of these storms.

Good luck with your carrot tubes.

mollyhespra 4/22/2013, 10:53 pm

Update on the toilet paper tube planters: they fell apart. I didn't pay attention the first time when I stapled them so overnight, the wet cardboard started unravelling.

Which was just as well because an unexpected flood in the basement prevented me from transplanting the carrot seedlings yesterday; so today, I managed to staple new tubes together, making sure the seams are butted together so they're less likely to unravel, filled them & planted the wee seedlings into them.

However, that ONE day's delay meant that about half of the seedlings had thrown this ridiculously long tap root out the bottom of the mini-soil tubes.

So much for not disturbing the roots by using the toilet paper tubes. affraid

Ah, well. Lesson learned: transplant as soon as *anything* starts peeking out of the block or it might be too late.

The carrot week experiment continues, though...

emadethis 4/23/2013, 9:03 am

mollyhespra wrote:
emadethis wrote:Cosmic purple is in the mail for me + an organic carrot mix. I think the kids are going to love the carrots. We still have snow here, but it looks like 50ish come the weekend--am I good to plant seeds, do I need to protect them somehow, or should I wait?

What zone are you in? If it's too early for you to plant outside, you're welcome to join me in the paper tube experiment or you could plant them into a bucket & just grow them there. Carrot roots don't like to be moved; they get all forked & weird looking, but maybe your kids would like the effect!

I'm in metro Denver and am listed at 6a. I think I'm just going to wait. Snow is currently dumping outside *again* Rolling Eyes

Hopefully (probably) things will warm up by the weekend and I can get things rolling.

CapeCoddess 4/23/2013, 10:44 am

My carrots are sprouting. Shocked

I don't know how or why, but there's little grass like sprouts in the square...unless it IS grass.

CC

**llama momma** 4/23/2013, 9:07 pm

Today I also found one sprout of somethingin my carrot square.. but found a few that looked the same in other non carrot squares.. so we'll have to wait and see Smile

Nicola 4/28/2013, 12:13 am

I never got a chance to get my picture in, of my 2 Carrot week squares; so here is the first: Carrot Week 2013 - Page 8 2_carr10

I planted Cook's Garden Kaleidoscope Mix in one square, and Botanical Interests Carnival Blend Organic Seeds in the other.
Carrot Week 2013 - Page 8 370856013

quiltbea 4/28/2013, 9:47 am

Nothing coming up in my carrot squares yet.

NHGardener 4/28/2013, 3:15 pm

Time to plant carrots, but I'm a little nervous about it. Last year I planted seeds, I think twice, and nothing happened.

Is it definitely not a good idea to plant them indoors and transplant when they're still small?

Everything I plant indoors is beautiful and successful. And then I put it outside and it all goes to pot.

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