First time trying fall carrots - and my first carrot!

akameswaran 9/29/2010, 12:59 pm

So here is my first carrot. I'm pretty happy with the results for the first time trying a fall crop. Very crisp and sweet, I'll definitely plant the same variety next year. It's all I can do not to pull the rest out, just to see if the rest are this nice, but I only need one carrot for now.

For those who are curious, I planted those carrots on July 4th weekend, in pure Mel's Mix.
The variety is Autumn King, that I got from GourmetSeeds.com. Great people there by the way, and this was a variety they recommended for a fall planting.

Garden Angel 9/29/2010, 1:05 pm

What a yummy looking carrot ! I know carrots can be planted pretty much all year around but wasn't thinking of a fall variety, I just planted some that are suppose to be a true baby carrot variety , wish me luck!

akameswaran 9/29/2010, 1:07 pm

I definitely wish you luck. And if you have success, you'll have to let me know the variety.

I also got a variety called little finger, which are also a true baby carrot. But I haven't pulled them up yet. They were started one week after the autumn king.

Blackrose 9/29/2010, 1:28 pm

I planted some little fingers in the spring, but haven't pulled them yet. We're going to get a frost here soon, I think and I read that the carrots get sweeter if they are left until after the first frost.

First time trying fall carrots - and my first carrot! Carrots-54

First time trying fall carrots - and my first carrot! Carrots-54

Not as good as boffer's dancing carrot, but he's cute! Razz

quiltbea 9/29/2010, 1:32 pm

That's a great carrot. I hope it tastes as good as it looks.

All my varieties, Mokum, Nantes, and Napoli were great for flavor.

akameswaran 9/29/2010, 1:39 pm

I can confirm - it was very tasty on the salad the wife and I had for lunch.

Now if only there were a crouton tree - I could have my entire salad from the garden.

Chopper 9/29/2010, 1:42 pm

Gorgeous carrot. Everyone complained awhile ago about carrots being the slow growers of the garden. That was true for me in the spring but the later summer planting has grown relatively quickly and they are good color and size and flavor. It will be interesting to see how the ones I planted this month do.

kshimpi 9/29/2010, 2:25 pm

cool carrot! How do you know when carrots are ready to be harvested?

Kristan

LaFee 9/29/2010, 2:34 pm

Some of my carrots pushed their shoulders above the soil, so I could see what size they were.

If yours are staying under the covers, either gently brush some soil aside (don't forget to cover them back up) or poke around in the soil with your fingers.

You're not waiting for them to get ripe, so pull them whenever you think they're big enough (or like me, you get tired of waiting for them....)

kshimpi 9/29/2010, 2:44 pm

thanks, I just planted my seeds on August 22nd, so I have a while :-)

quiltbea 9/29/2010, 2:49 pm

I just remove a bit of soil around the base and see how big are the shoulders. You can harvest them as baby carrots when they are really small or big ones so it depends on what you want.

Push the carrot DOWN first to lossen the roots, then pull up on the greenery. That way you won't break off the carrot.

akameswaran 9/29/2010, 3:07 pm

None of my carrots show their shoulders, so I've been simply poking lightly around to feel if they tops have gotten big.

I didn't know about pushing them down first! That's a great tip, as I would have liked to have the greens intact for the pic.

Anybody do anything fun with carrot greens? All I can think to do is add them to the compost. Fun doesn't mean edible, although if they are so much the better.

CarolynPhillips 9/29/2010, 11:02 pm

Very nice Carrot

CarolynPhillips 9/29/2010, 11:07 pm

I tried GourmetSeeds.com and it must be Down.

Chopper 9/29/2010, 11:08 pm

I had a carrot with a nice broad healthy looking shoulder. I pulled it and only the shoulder was wide, the rest was skinny and short. LOL.

boffer 9/29/2010, 11:24 pm

akameswaran wrote:Anybody do anything fun with carrot greens? All I can think to do is add them to the compost. Fun doesn't mean edible, although if they are so much the better.

I was disappointed that my newly acquired chickens didn't like them. I've braided them for pictures, but it's just not the same as braiding onion or garlic tops. If you google "carrot top recipe" there are lots of suggestions. Truth is, my carrot tops end up in the compost pile. Wink

akameswaran 9/30/2010, 8:16 am

CarolynPhillips wrote:I tried GourmetSeeds.com and it must be Down.

I mispelled it's actually: http://www.gourmetseed.com/

CarolynPhillips 9/30/2010, 10:26 am

well that was fun= gourmetseed.com

carrots, romaine lettuce, celeriac, yardlong bean, indian popcorn, eggplant

akameswaran 9/30/2010, 10:54 am

We also got some great nasturtium, lettuce and pea, both garden and sugar, from them. The only complaint I have is many of their seeds are italian, and several are ones they grow themselves. It seems all the "new" varieties and the organically grown seeds are theirs. The others have been from some italian company.

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First time trying fall carrots - and my first carrot!

First time trying fall carrots - and my first carrot!

Re: First time trying fall carrots - and my first carrot!

Re: First time trying fall carrots - and my first carrot!

Re: First time trying fall carrots - and my first carrot!

Re: First time trying fall carrots - and my first carrot!

Re: First time trying fall carrots - and my first carrot!

Re: First time trying fall carrots - and my first carrot!

Re: First time trying fall carrots - and my first carrot!

Re: First time trying fall carrots - and my first carrot!

Re: First time trying fall carrots - and my first carrot!

Re: First time trying fall carrots - and my first carrot!

Re: First time trying fall carrots - and my first carrot!

Re: First time trying fall carrots - and my first carrot!

Re: First time trying fall carrots - and my first carrot!

Re: First time trying fall carrots - and my first carrot!

Re: First time trying fall carrots - and my first carrot!

Re: First time trying fall carrots - and my first carrot!

Re: First time trying fall carrots - and my first carrot!

Re: First time trying fall carrots - and my first carrot!

Re: First time trying fall carrots - and my first carrot!


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