Re: Carrot Week 2013

Dunkinjean 2/23/2013, 5:26 pm

Thank you for your offer gwennifer but I just ordered my Kaleidoscope carrots and they should be arriving soon.
So I am in for Carrot Week! cheers

CapeCoddess 2/24/2013, 1:49 pm

I would love a rainbow blend, Gwen, if you have any left. I searched far and wide and they still haven't shown up in the stores on Cape Cod yet.

CC

**camprn** 2/24/2013, 3:10 pm

CapeCoddess wrote:I would love a rainbow blend, Gwen, if you have any left. I searched far and wide and they still haven't shown up in the stores on Cape Cod yet.

CC

I found some at the orange box store yesterday.
Carrot Week 2013 - Page 4 Prod000633_lg

**Turan** 2/24/2013, 3:23 pm

It is going to be interesting to hear peoples taste reviews of all these different colored carrots. I grew a few of the rainbow blend last summer and found each color to be definitely different in taste and character.

cheyannarach 2/24/2013, 10:46 pm

Hooray, I missed out on carrot week last year and I just happen to have a rainbow blend! Looking foward to it!

meatburner 2/24/2013, 11:05 pm

I would love to participate but cannot find these seeds around here for some reason. Suggestions?

cheyannarach 2/25/2013, 12:19 am

Look on page 5 of this thread. Gwennifer has purchased seeds for people that cannot get them!

**donnainzone5** 2/25/2013, 10:44 am

I'm in, having found some organic "rainbow" carrot seeds at a new indoor-gardening store I spotted on the way to the supermarket.

The organics store also had a few other things I can use: coarse vermiculite by special order, and an OMRI-certified compost consisting of various outdoor plant materials.

Spring, here I come!

**gwennifer** 2/25/2013, 11:29 am

CapeCoddess wrote:I would love a rainbow blend, Gwen...

They are on the way to you today CapeCoddess!

Gunny 2/25/2013, 11:33 am

Sure, why not, its all one big adventure. I already have some little finger's sown and a top hat is no problem. Just picked up some more deck screws so that takes care of materials needed. The daytime temps here are a cool 70+. Presunrise is mid 30's. Should work for awhile lol!

**gwennifer** 2/25/2013, 1:01 pm

Thanks again to everyone who's taken me up on my free carrot seed offer!

For those of you without deep beds or high rise boxes, you may want to take me up on the Solar Yellow carrots - I still have two packets. They say to harvest young at finger size for eating raw, or let them mature to 6-7" long for cooking.

Also still have one package of Dragon carrots from Seed Savers Exchange - no information on the package for mature carrot size and I'm too lazy to look it up for y'all right now. Laughing

mollyhespra 2/25/2013, 1:10 pm

I'd like to take you up on the seed offer, Gwennifer! I've only got plain ole "traditional" orange seeds, so I'd appreciate whatever you've got left, first choice would be the rainbow, followed by the purple dragon & then the yellow but like I said, I'd be happy with whatever. I'll PM you also. THANKS!!! Carrot Week 2013 - Page 4 3170584802

**RoOsTeR** 2/25/2013, 6:08 pm

Has anyone tried the Atomic Red carrots? I've read they are good cooked, but not so much raw. I don't mind cooked carrots, but round our house, most are nibbled raw.

**donnainzone5** 2/25/2013, 6:17 pm

I've read that carrots are more nutritious cooked than raw. However, I also like them freshly picked!

In fact, I just pulled four small ones from my SFG. They'll go into tonight's salad.

**RoOsTeR** 2/25/2013, 6:22 pm

donnainzone10 wrote:I've read that carrots are more nutritious cooked than raw. However, I also like them freshly picked!

In fact, I just pulled four small ones from my SFG. They'll go into tonight's salad.

You pickled some of the Atomic Reds? I do like pickled carrots Smile

**camprn** 2/25/2013, 6:30 pm

donnainzone10 wrote:I've read that carrots are more nutritious cooked than raw. However, I also like them freshly picked!

In fact, I just pulled four small ones from my SFG. They'll go into tonight's salad.

I don't know which nutrient you were talking about, but here is a comparison.
28 grams of cooked carrots vs.
28 grams of raw carrots

**donnainzone5** 2/25/2013, 7:47 pm

camprn,

I guess my information was old AND incorrect. Sorry!

**camprn** 2/25/2013, 8:00 pm

donnainzone10 wrote:camprn,

I guess my information was old AND incorrect. Sorry!

There is more Vitamin A available in the cooked carrots! Very Happy

Triciasgarden 2/26/2013, 5:03 pm

I'm in! This sounds like fun!

mollyhespra 2/26/2013, 11:01 pm

Hmm...I'm a thinkin' that in my zone 4 the only way I'm going to be able to play is if I start the seeds inside on Carrot Week--BUT, I'm under the impression that carrots don't like to be moved around/transplanted or they'll get forked & all kinds of distorted...which, come to think of it, may not look bad for the 'Dragon' seeds, but anyhoo--has anyone successfully started carrot seed inside before? When I was a kid we always direct-sowed. thinking

**Turan** 2/27/2013, 1:02 am

I haven't started them inside, but for carrot week I sowed them in the squares and laid some weed cloth over to warm the soil a bit. You know that black porous stuff. It took a couple weeks or maybe 3 weeks to sprout but they did eventually and grew well.

Good luck.

**camprn** 2/27/2013, 6:57 am

mollyhespra wrote:Hmm...I'm a thinkin' that in my zone 4 the only way I'm going to be able to play is if I start the seeds inside on Carrot Week--BUT, I'm under the impression that carrots don't like to be moved around/transplanted or they'll get forked & all kinds of distorted...which, come to think of it, may not look bad for the 'Dragon' seeds, but anyhoo--has anyone successfully started carrot seed inside before? When I was a kid we always direct-sowed.

Molly they will be fine as direct sow. I like Turan's idea for warming the soil and then sowing mid to late April.
Almanac

I have had a degree of success in transplanting carrot seedlings when I was thinning very small plants.

mollyhespra 2/27/2013, 7:57 am

Maybe I'll do a little experiment with both ideas. I can warm up a few squares (thanks Turan!) and also plant a few inside at the same time & see what happens.

My concern isn't only in regards to frost, I can cover the seedlings. It's also that I've been reading up on carrots & apparently, if your spring temps hit the 30s often enough, it makes the young 'uns think that it's "winter" again & thus when it warms up for good, they're more likely to bolt ("vernalization" they called it; I learned a new word!) the first year.

So I guess it will be down to Mother Nature to see what happens.

**RoOsTeR** 2/27/2013, 9:40 am

You can always plant your carrots for carrot week in a separate box and move it inside if conditions get bad. Here's what I did last year and will do again this year:

I Got my Carrot Week box planted yesterday. My box is almost 3' long and around 9" wide, with a plywood bottom drilled for drainage. It's 7" deep so with the MM settled in, it's right at a 6" depth

I marked my box in 1" increments (just cause that's how I am) and used a ruler to mark my soil. I got the idea of scoring my mix from a post by camprn:

We are having some chilly weather here in Colorado, so I covered my box for now. I can easily move it inside if the weather gets to bad

**gwennifer** 2/27/2013, 12:13 pm

mollyhespra wrote:Hmm...I'm a thinkin' that in my zone 4 the only way I'm going to be able to play is if I start the seeds inside on Carrot Week--BUT, I'm under the impression that carrots don't like to be moved around/transplanted or they'll get forked & all kinds of distorted...which, come to think of it, may not look bad for the 'Dragon' seeds, but anyhoo--has anyone successfully started carrot seed inside before? When I was a kid we always direct-sowed.

Start saving toilet paper tubes. You can sow them indoors in the tubes, and plant the whole tube in the ground when your temps are right for moving outside and you'll never disturb the root. Haven't done it myself, but have read about it.

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