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[EarthNSky <erthnsky AT bellsouth.net>]

Clansgian AT wmconnect.com wrote:

> I've had knotty tasteless carrots, but mostly my problem has been 
> nearly no carrots.  For example, I'd plant a 4' x 10' bed with 
> carrots either precision seeded or else broadcast with the intentions
>  of thinning them to a proper stand, and by the date of maturity the 
> carrots were delicious ...... both of them!

Wow, that's a LOT of carrots...
What is your method for precision seeding..do you have one of those
little suction gizmos?
I just mix carrot and radish seeds together and plant both at the same
time.  Thinning is pulling radishes. :)
I like your ridge method.  I'm going to try that, but I ain't gonna
plant 40 square feet of carrots for me and Ron..we don't eat that many
carrots.  In the Best of All Possible Worlds, I am thinking a grocery
store bunch in about 1 square foot, and if I ate a bunch of carrots a
week, that's 40 weeks worth of carrots...DAMN, no wonder I am going
blind...I'm not eating enough carrots!!<Bev slaps forehead>
LOL...Seriously, the last few years, since I graduated from row
cropping, I have seeded an area of about 3 feet by 5 feet, just
scattered seeding with radishes.  I usually get maybe the equivalent of
3 or 4 grocery store bunches, which is really low yield for what I
should get for that much space.  It sounds like you have a similar
problem...LOL..(both of them..that really cracked me up, James)


> I haven't found them to be picky about soil condition except that it 
> has to be loose and no stones or hard clods (they will fork).  The 
> biggie with them is that it takes forever for them to germinate and 
> by then every seed in Christendom has germinated and overshadows 
> them.

I do think they like the sandier loams, perhaps a bit less organic
matter and less nitrogen rich than most.  One year I grew them in a row,
in the ground, in a very rich area-rich due to the fact that that corner
of the garden had been the repository for cow manure in years past and
was high in N-blackest, most beautiful dirt you ever saw. I had the most
beautiful carrot greens, and the biggest, ugliest, hairiest carrots you
can imagine.  They were tough and not tasty.  But they looked good from
above ground..hairy as hell underground, like the feeder roots couldn't
get enough of the good stuff and the N was a drug.  I could almost hear
those carrots screaming when I pulled them away from their N lifeline...LOL
The good thing about the germination "wait" is that they are generally
about 4 inches tall when I am pulling radishes, and the radishes don't
shade them.

> This is my method, although don't put much stock in it, it's probably
>  the rantings of the worst carrot grower on a homestead:

Nope, I think I got you beat on that one.

> Yes, exactly.  I got mine from Baker's Creek where a "packet" was 
> defined as 1000 seeds but was actually more like 5000 -  ungraded so 
> they threw in extras.  I saved seeds from the white and purple but 
> screwed up with the others so I've ordered more seed.  The white ones
>  tasted the best IMO and were the biggest.

I can never seem to save the small seeded stuff...I lose the seed.
Perhaps my method needs work.  How do you do it?

> The best orange carrot I've grown has been Touchon, I know Nichols 
> has them but I don't know who else.

I am almost positive that was the variety of the Hairy Carrots.  I had
great yield that year, but no flavor, and have I mentioned that those
carrots had hair longer than mine? ;)

Bev



--
Bevanron of EarthNSky Farm   Sleep well tonight, for somewhere in the
ocean's depths, MY son is protecting YOUR freedom.