2024 Carrots: Lessons Learned

                        

In our attempt to grow veggies for as much of the growing season as possible, I wanted to take a stab at growing carrots. The picture above represents the last of the spring harvest. They were easier to grow than expected and therefore, more seeds are in the ground now for the fall. From a weeding perspective, I loved the fact that their very familiar stalks made them easy to distinguish. Their size was also a pleasant surprise. I planted them in succession over the course of a few weeks, but found that it was time consuming and took a bit of extra effort to keep the empty parts of the bed weed free. It also added more work to track where we had planted versus where we need to continue planting at each point in the succession. 

When comparing our carrots to carrots I have purchased from local farmers, I noticed one big difference and then did some research to correct the issue. The carrots from other farms last for a really long time in the fridge whereas ours got soft pretty quickly. Carrots do this when they lose their moisture and there are several tips for preventing this from happening. The easiest is to cut off the stems and ensure they are stored in a dry, cool environment. I did know to not wash them before storing them, so that wasn’t a contributing factor in this particular case. (Not washing your fresh produce until you want to cook it or eat it is a trick for extending the freshness of most vegetables.) It turns out you can make soft carrots crispy again if you put them in a container or ziplock bag that enables you to cover them in water. This helps restore the moisture they have lost. I tend to store them in a bin by themselves, but if you don’t have separate produce bins in your fridge, just make sure you don’t store them with fruits that produce ethylene gas (like apples).

Some people opt to plant carrots a few at a time to have a constant harvest, but a fellow canner inspired me to plant the remaining carrot seeds all at once. Anyone who loves to cook with carrots knows they are usually the last ingredient to get tender in the pot. Using a pressure canner method to can carrots allows you to throw them into stews and soups at the end of the cooking process, which can shave off a lot of time. It’s an experiment, but that’s the plan for the fall planting. 

Companion plants for carrots include radishes, lettuce, spinach, onions, and several kinds of herbs. Avoid planting carrots with dill or fennel.