Carrots

[majorcatfish]

since i have 6 hrs to kill making beef stock today, figure i would chime in..
have in the past grown carrots in our carolina clay and they turned out tasteless and tough so quit growing them..
now since have got into raised beds wow those were some great tasting carrots last year and this year as well...

planted early in the season "romance stokes seeds" and late in the season "laguna johnnys" both were sweet and could be picked as baby carrots or picked mature,
the laguna is a main season 65 day carrot and it handled many nights below 25 and a couple hard freezes they turned out the sweetest.. and yes both nantes varieties.

as for the soil in the bed it is a mixture of garden soil and black kow compost from lowes and added 13-13-13,nitrate of soda, triple.super phosphate, muriate of potash and green sand and tilled in well...
nitrate of soda 16-0-0
triple super phosphate 0-45-0
muriate of potash 0-0-60
before you go willy nilly with these you need to know what are the nutrient requirements are for each type of veggie... it is easier to add,than subtract nutrients<fertilizers>once added.

nitrogen .... N
phosphate...P
potassium...K

for instance.
carrots like high N and low P,K ...... water moderate
bush beans like low N and moderate P,K..... water low to heavy
brussels sprouts like moderate N and high P,K.... water moderate
cabbage likes high N,P,K .....water heavy to moderate
onions like moderate N,P,K..... water medium
peas like low N,P,K .....moderate to low

then there is the ph factor do you need to add calcium or sulfur... being wintertime <for most of us> it's a great time to have your soil tested..

to grow a great carrot clay soils stink unless you have added lots of compost, so if you have access to good aged compost add it, personally have no access so i purchase it..

and yes have added to this years line-up yellow,white, purple carrots..

 

[thistlebloom]

I thought high nitrogen levels made carrots "hairy"?

 

[majorcatfish]

I thought high nitrogen levels made carrots "hairy"?

early carrots romance

late carrots laguna

picked these two varieties for being low in hair..

could not afford taking the carrots down to the salon to have them waxed...

lets say you use 10 pounds of 10-10-10 you want to add a tomato paste can worth of nitrate of soda and mix it in, which should bring you up to around 17-10-10.

 

[so lucky]

So what would be the result of having put too much wood ash on the garden? Just poor production? I don't think I used too much last spring, and it was ash from burning twigs and fallen branches, not garbage or treated wood. But my production was down on almost all the stuff I grew. ......(oh yes, now I remember----the round-up from the neighbor spraying....could have something to do with it, maybe......)

 

[baymule]

Seedcorn, I planted Amarillo carrots in the late fall. It is so hot here, that I have to wait till things cool off. Last year was the first time I had success planting carrots and I only got a few. Right now, I have a whole bed 4'x8' covered in feathery green carrot tops. I pulled a small one last week, washed it under the water hose and ate it. It was sweet, crunchy and about the size of my pinky finger.......can't wait for them to get bigger!

http://www.rareseeds.com/amarillo-carrot/

 

[seedcorn]

T

Seedcorn, I planted Amarillo carrots in the late fall. It is so hot here, that I have to wait till things cool off. Last year was the first time I had success planting carrots and I only got a few. Right now, I have a whole bed 4'x8' covered in feathery green carrot tops. I pulled a small one last week, washed it under the water hose and ate it. It was sweet, crunchy and about the size of my pinky finger.......can't wait for them to get bigger!

http://www.rareseeds.com/amarillo-carrot/

Thanks Bay. I can hear my wife now, they don't look like a carrot. Wrong color. Oh the abuse!!!!

 

[baymule]

Spray paint them.

 

[Hal]

Yes, I was referring to The Diggers Club, since you mentioned you were in Australia. I found their web site pretty interesting. There seems to be a lot of interest in heirlooms down under!

pH is a concern, and yes, folks should know their soil pH and use wood ash carefully. I should have added that in my earlier post - thanks for bringing it up so no one overdoes it. I have a fireplace that is used occasionally so I know where my ash comes from.

I'd really be concerned if anyone is burning treated timber - for the fumes as well as the ash contamination.

I am looking forward to trying Round of Paris. I am also going to grow under row covers this year because of increasing problems with carrot fly. I might try companion planting with marigolds too - some folks say that can help deter the pest.

Sadly places like The Diggers Club preserve more overseas heirlooms and talk about climate change than preserve Australian ones despite all the talk about preservation and a lot of ours are gone or very close to disappearing. There is a lot of miss information and other problems when it comes to heirloom/heritage vegetables here and probably best if I save it for another thread.

Sad part is I have seen plenty of people burn the wrong kind of timber usually due to ignorance.

Row covers will be your best bet from my experience, I don't have carrot fly here but I have maintained a few of my own vegetable gardens in the US while on long stays.
I used to snack on those carrots at work and people would always ask me what on earth I was eating.

 

[Hal]

Seedcorn, I planted Amarillo carrots in the late fall. It is so hot here, that I have to wait till things cool off. Last year was the first time I had success planting carrots and I only got a few. Right now, I have a whole bed 4'x8' covered in feathery green carrot tops. I pulled a small one last week, washed it under the water hose and ate it. It was sweet, crunchy and about the size of my pinky finger.......can't wait for them to get bigger!

http://www.rareseeds.com/amarillo-carrot/

Absolutely wonderful carrots, among my personal favorites.

 

[digitS']

I will make an attempt to answer what I think is still "hanging out there" on the question of wood ashes. Then I will be looking for some answers . . .

Saying somewhere else that chlorophyll isn't much more than nitrogen and what the plant can make itself, I have found was a bit misleading of me. Plants metabolize maybe a little like we do. They require enzymes & one important plant enzyme makes use of iron.

Well, I read that high pH interferes with the uptake of iron. So, the plant doesn't "green-up" well.

"Officially, the soil in this valley runs up to 7.3pH. Not terrible but I wonder what our water might add to that. I used to test the water on a regular basis and it will go above 8 . . !

Putting ash on 1/2 an onion bed one year convinced me that I could get in trouble easily! Pale, puny plants at one end, nice green ones at the other. Oops!

I don't have wood heat any longer but how much would be too much? Hard to know. Here is what the U of O has to say: "Ash from a cord of oak meets the potassium needs of a garden 60 by 70 feet, he said. A cord of Douglas-fir ash supplies enough potassium for a garden 30 by 30 feet." (Link)

They have lots more important things to say but among them is the caution about using ashes where rainfall totals are below 20" & pH is above 7 . . .I don't really know that my soil needs potassium and may just wait for another volcanic eruption, but I'm wondering how much potassium shows up in the compost. By the way, that was where I decided to put the ashes - the compost. I figured lots of acidic plant material should neutralize it.

Steve