Homestead mailing list

[Clansgian AT wmconnect.com]

> But back to the gardening stuff, one year I used toilet paper tubes to 
> start corn in.  I transplanted the corn, tube and all, directly into the 
> ground, intensively planted.  It worked real well. 


My experiment along those lines was carrots in plastic syringes.   A place I 
did work for (phamaceutical company) had crates and crates of new feeding 
syringes they were going to throw out.  In my fantasy of perfectly spaced 
carrots 
with a head start on the weeds, I decided I could grow transplants in the 
syringes.  The plunger was removed and the nozzle end was cut off.  The 
syringes 
arranged in wooden racs with their bottoms in a flat of water.  One carrot 
seed 
per tube, I experimented with 5ml, 10ml, and 20ml tubes.  The carrots came up 
fine and bushy, transplanted well.

Alas, not one edible carrot was produced.  The carrot itself follows that 
first hair sized tap root and it bottomed out in the tube when the top was 
only 
1" tall.  All the carrots were twisted.  The method worked ONLY if the 
seedlings were transplanted when they were about 5/8" tall, that is, not 
worth it.

I had heard you could not effectively transplant beets but had done so for 
years so when I heard you cannot transplant carrots, I scoffed.  I couldn't 
do 
it, though.

This last year I finally did develop a method I can live with that gave me a 
very good carrot crop without the usual problems.

By the bye, has anyone tried those outrageous OP carrots which are red, 
yellow, purple, and white?  I couldn't resist and did them all.  Really good 
carrots!