Carrot Week 2013

Thanks Linda col , I have found an address in the carrot museum for spanish black carrots ..took a while to find it , I now have to email them as to how they want paying for them .

Yes, the true black carrots are very hard to find. You can find purple and dark purple fairly easy. The black...not so much.

Ah goodness, I can't get it right. I've planted rainbow carrots the last two years and this year decided to just got with the classic orange nantes. Oh well, I'll still peek in at all the fun. Here's a prior harvest - they do make for a great veggie platter!
And carrots store so well - I just used the last white one in a stir-fry dish for the kiddos last week.

I went to 3 different places and none of them of have the colored carrots, even tho 2 of them did last year. I'll keep looking as there's lots of time but if I don't find them and since I don't want to pay postage, I'll play from the sidelines, too, with my last years carrot seeds.

Unless someone wants to trade collard seeds for carrots seeds...? If so, PM me please?

CC

CapeCoddess wrote:I went to 3 different places and none of them of have the colored carrots, even tho 2 of them did last year. I'll keep looking as there's lots of time but if I don't find them and since I don't want to pay postage, I'll play from the sidelines, too, with my last years carrot seeds.

Unless someone wants to trade collard seeds for carrots seeds...? If so, PM me please?

CC

I may try to get out sometime this weekend and buy up a bunch of the colored seed mixes. If I do, I'll post them up in the seed traders corner for swapping.

I'm in I just have a pack of Nantes but the wife requested Rainbow carrots this year so I've been hunting for some around here but the stores are still lollygagging on getting out there gardening supplies. It could have something to do with all the snow on the ground.

Yeah - don't panic on not finding the rainbow carrots. I tried too early last year too since I was going to send some along with a Valentine's gift. Later they were found in abundance. Ed Hume's seeds carries them and you can buy those everywhere.

Im in I have some Dragon carrot seeds I got from seed saver exchange last month. Cant wait to see how they taste.

O goody! An excuse to try those Purple Sun carrots I was eyeing. 90 days though, that is alllllllll season. I do have some left in a packet of rainbow mix from last year. I will do both.

Okay, Nonna and PapaVino are in. Gonna try the Purple Sun and White Satin carrots from Territorial Seeds, in addition to the tried and true nantes varieties from past two years. Right now, we have a double row of overwintering carrots, which are just now starting to look like they may make it--they're orange, though, nothing exotic. Nonna

Nonna.PapaVino wrote:Okay, Nonna and PapaVino are in. ...snip..... Right now, we have a double row of overwintering carrots, which are just now starting to look like they may make it--they're orange, though, nothing exotic. Nonna

Welll..... nothing exotic..... except for the whole fresh carrots in winter thing.

Everyone securing their seeds?
Annie's Heirlooms has some nice looking Dragon Carrot seed.
http://www.anniesheirloomseeds.com/products/Dragon-Carrot.html

I participated in Carrot Week last year but had dismal results. I planted the seeds on April 15. They sprouted real quick, grew about 5 inches tall and sat there doing nothing for 4 months. They started growing again in Sept and were ready to harvest in October. So I tied up 8 squares for 6 months. It is just too hot here to plant carrots that late in the season. I was at my local nursery and there was a lady there who works for the seed company and was putting up this years seeds. I bought Carnival Blend from Botanical Interests.

I told the seed lady I was going to join in Carrot Week and plant these carrots on April 15. She shook her head and said no, no that is way too late. The package says plant them 2 to 4 weeks before the average last frost. That means about March 1 - March 15. The package says they mature in 65 - 75 days. If planted March 15, that means harvest about the last two weeks in May. It starts getting real hot around that time.

What about you other warm weather gardeners. When do you plant them. Maybe some year we can do a carrot week for warm weather gardeners. So I guess I am going to plant the majority of my carrot seeds in March and leave a square empty to join in the fun of Carrot Week and plant the one square around April 15.

If I want carrots, even here in zone 5a, I have to start them earlier than April. Mine should go in March 24th or close. Otherwise they stop growing when it gets too warm and don't mature til fall. I plan to start mine then but will set aside one square only for and April 15th sowing to join in.

Yolos.... actually if the truth be told, we could probably even plant them right now and come out about right. I agree about our short spring weather here in GA, only lasts a couple of weeks and then turns hot really fast. I am still going to try 1 top hat planted April 15 with a lot of shading just to see what happens.

bnoles Today at 1:32 pm
Yolos.... actually if the truth be told, we could probably even plant them right now and come out about right.

I just looked at the University of Ga Planting Chart and it said plant carrots Jan 15- March 20. Planting dates are for Middle Ga. North Ga varies about 2 weeks later in spring. So you are right, I could plant right now. I may do some succesion planting this year and see what works best.

Yolos, I've had carrots growing since September!! You're right, April is much too late for us to grow them (I'm in north Florida), as it gets too hot too soon. We grew the rainbow carrots last year with great results, but the flavor wasn't as good as the traditional orange, so DH said he'd just as soon stay with the Nantes. Since he's the one doing the heavy labor of building beds and mixing MM, I guess I'll grow orange carrots to keep him happy!!

johnsonjij, I agree: nantes are the best tasting spring carrot here in the Pacific Northwest, too. Having said that, I shall be trying a couple of strange-colored carrots this spring: White Satin hybrid and Purple Sun Hybrid--just to see how they differ (or are the same as) more traditional varieties. BTW, we have a plot saved for Nantes planting April 15. Nonna.PapaVino

johnsonjij, I agree: nantes are the best tasting spring carrot here in the Pacific Northwest, too. Having said that, I shall be trying a couple of strange-colored carrots this spring: White Satin hybrid and Purple Sun Hybrid--just to see how they differ (or are the same as) more traditional varieties. BTW, we have a plot saved for Nantes planting April 15. Nonna.PapaVino

I still have carrots started from seed last OCT. At the top of the bed after the misses thined them; I should have soon after they came up. Lettuce was cut again today.
Due to the non thinning here is the results for my first crop of multicolor carrots. Yea they are punnie just hope my next crop is bigger.

I got my garden cleaned up to re-plant for spring. Part of the clean up was pulling the one carrot I could see that was leftover from carrot week last spring and dumping the box. (I hadn't had much luck with the carrots and had abandoned them). Check out the fat yellow one - that's the only one that still had a visible top that I pulled. The rest were discovered when I dumped the box.


I had sowed a rainbow blend. I'm surprised how many orange ones were lurking underground! I did pull a few purple and white ones during the summer. I grew the rainbow blend the previous fall with much better yields and a quicker harvest, but none of mine had fattened up like that yellow one. Too fun.

Well now THAT'S interesting, gwen...hidden carrots. Thanks for the tip. I'll comb all my carrot beds before planting again. Not today tho.

CC

ATTN: Free Carrot Seeds!!!

I love planting carrots the SFG way! 16 plants in one square foot - four cute little rows of four - it's just too fun! Colorful carrots that you can't find at the grocery store make it even more fun! So in honor of Carrot Week 2013, I did a little shopping...I bought these to give away to my fellow SFG'ers! I only have one condition... you have to post a picture here of your official SFG showcasing your high-rise box for your carrots! (pg. 61 ANSFG book) Fair enough?

I'll send a PM to each person who shares a picture to get your shipping information. First come-first serve on varieties.

I don't need highrisers with my 12" deep beds. I have no problem growing long carrots and even parsnips.

C'mon everybody - where's the love? You don't have to be a new poster to get the free seeds - just show off your high rise. As an example, here's a picture of mine from last spring. You can get a perfect 1'x2' box (covers two squares) from a single $2 six foot cedar fence board.