Now.....THIS is what I was hoping for

[boggybranch]

You can't imagine my surprise when I pulled on this carrot top. Only plant two VERY short rows...to see if I could have any luck. Next planting will be a lot larger....I gaurantee.

 

[hoodat]

Nice looking carrot. How did it taste? I can't grow long carrots. My soil has too many stones that make them twist and fork so I grow the ball carrot. It grows like a beet.

 

[boggybranch]

Tastes sweeter than store-bought....that's for sure.

 

[Ridgerunner]

Nice. Very nice. I have about a 15 foot long row a lot like that. Danvers variety. It was a good spring for carrots.

I found the ones I planted two years ago in the fall were even sweeter than the spring carrots. It's a challenge to get the timing right, (I totaly missed it last year even though I planted them a week earlier. We had an early freeze.) You are a little further south than I am, but if you can get the timing right, just cover them with mulch when it turns cold and pull them straight out of the ground to eat. They stayed sweet until it warmed up enough for them to start growing again. Then they turned bitter.

 

[journey11]

That's a beauty!

I love that you can store them overwinter in the rows. Even here, we are very unlikely to get a hard enough freeze to get them. The mulching makes them easier to dig too!

 

[hoodat]

Tastes sweeter than store-bought....that's for sure.

That's the name of the game. All veggies taste better and are more nutritious than stuff shipped in from hundreds of miles away. There is also a school of thought that says veggies are more benficial the closer they are grown to where you are. Your own garden? Can't get closer than that.

 

[vfem]

Oh yum fantastic, what kind are they? I've done 2 batches ever and both failed. :/

 

[boggybranch]

Oh yum fantastic, what kind are they? I've done 2 batches ever and both failed. :/

Hey v...Had to go dig around in my seed box. They were "Hercules" carrot seeds.

 

[boggybranch]

I built a raised bed, 10 1/2" high, and filled it with sifted dark, fertile loam soil to try carrots and beets in. Worked for both. Sometimes a blind hog does find an acorn.

 

[boggybranch]

Nice looking carrot. How did it taste? I can't grow long carrots. My soil has too many stones that make them twist and fork so I grow the ball carrot. It grows like a beet.
http://www.theeasygarden.com/forum/uploads/6858_ball_carrot.jpg

That is way cool. Just the right size to go in a beef stew, in the crockpot. Is "Ball carrot" the actual name of it?