Peter Rabbit was one of my favorite stories as a child. He was such a naughty little rabbit. He disobeyed his Momma and went to Mr. McGregor's garden. I think he saw the beautiful carrots growing there and couldn't help himself.
We have been digging carrots and cleaning up the garden for fall. I like to grow a couple of different varieties, it was kind of fun uncovering them and seeing the color and how big they grew this year.
Why not leave them in the ground, you ask? I noticed some of them had rust fly damage and I wanted to preserve some of our hard work before the bugs got to all of them.
I did something a little different this year and I think it helped them grow bigger. I used a rake and pulled the soil up into a bed in the garden before planting the seeds.
Once dug up we twisted the tops off and washed them. Can you see the orange, red, and yellow (sometimes white) carrots in the wheel barrow?
Here are some clean, sorted carrots for the house. I sort out the smaller ones to eat, the larger ones go in the garage fridge for juice, cooking, or the animals. Carrots are great food for livestock.
Carrots are considered bi-annuals. This means that they produce greens and roots the first year, then if not pulled up (and not killed by frost) they will bloom and produce seeds the next year.
Weird thing, some of our carrots actually bloomed this year............I'm still trying to figure that out. The flowers of a carrot look a lot like Queen Annes Lace. Most likely because the two plants are in the same family.
Showing off the "big" one.
Here's a pail for the crisper. I place them in the crisper and cover them with a damp towel. They will keep forever like this..ok, not forever, but a very long time. They won't last that long though since the family really likes carrots.
Getting back to Peter Rabbit, I watched a movie about Beatrix Potter called Miss Potter that was an excellent story about her life. If you get a chance and you liked Peter Rabbit as a child, you should watch it.
Do you have any carrot stories to share?
We have been digging carrots and cleaning up the garden for fall. I like to grow a couple of different varieties, it was kind of fun uncovering them and seeing the color and how big they grew this year.
Why not leave them in the ground, you ask? I noticed some of them had rust fly damage and I wanted to preserve some of our hard work before the bugs got to all of them.
I did something a little different this year and I think it helped them grow bigger. I used a rake and pulled the soil up into a bed in the garden before planting the seeds.
Here are some clean, sorted carrots for the house. I sort out the smaller ones to eat, the larger ones go in the garage fridge for juice, cooking, or the animals. Carrots are great food for livestock.
Carrots are considered bi-annuals. This means that they produce greens and roots the first year, then if not pulled up (and not killed by frost) they will bloom and produce seeds the next year.
Weird thing, some of our carrots actually bloomed this year............I'm still trying to figure that out. The flowers of a carrot look a lot like Queen Annes Lace. Most likely because the two plants are in the same family.
This is one of the plants in bloom. If you are wanting to save seed and live in a temperate climate, you can leave the carrots in the ground and collect the seed the second year. Gardeners that get enough frost to kill the carrots have to bring them in and over-winter them. In the spring they re-plant the carrots they want seed from.
I was going to let this guy go to seed but went out a couple of days later and my husband had pulled it. Guess I will be ordering more carrots from Baker Creek Seeds this winter ;-)
Showing off the "big" one.
Here's a pail for the crisper. I place them in the crisper and cover them with a damp towel. They will keep forever like this..ok, not forever, but a very long time. They won't last that long though since the family really likes carrots.
Getting back to Peter Rabbit, I watched a movie about Beatrix Potter called Miss Potter that was an excellent story about her life. If you get a chance and you liked Peter Rabbit as a child, you should watch it.
Do you have any carrot stories to share?
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