Tips for Harvesting Carrots

Fall harvest is a busy time in the garden.  Finally, the time has come for you to enjoy your labors of the spring and the summer, regardless, there is still a lot of work to be completed.  You remember (more)the blog on planting my carrots earlier this year?

Tips for harvesting carrots

I tried a little experiment that I didn’t mention on that blog.  Normally we plant things in one long row, in a straight line.  But this year I tried a little something different.  I didn’t plant my carrots one at a time in the straight line.  I sprinkled the seeds in about a 3-inch wide section down the row before pressing them down by stepping on them.

I was a little bit worried that it wouldn’t work really well, but It worked great.  I didn’t take the time to thin the carrots as they grew.  

Normally the big ones would choke out the little ones and keep them from growing.  Instead, it seemed to leave room for all of them.  Yes, we had a few little ones here and there, but overall our carrots were really long and straight.  We had very few that wound around each other.  They were nice sized and very sweet.

Digging Carrots

When I dig my carrots I loosen the ground around them with a shovel or a spade.  I try not to get very close because I am really good at cutting the bottom of the carrot off down in the dirt.  I just loosen the ground and pull the carrot out and shake the dirt off of it.

Digging our carrots

We recently started to dig our carrots.  We have given most of the carrots we have dug to our kids and neighbors.  I will start to dig mine in the next few days and store them for the winter months.  I have several things I will do with them, so they will keep for use thru the winter.  Watch coming blogs and I will share those ideas with you.

Next year I will plant my carrots like this again.  I think it was a pretty big success.  Every year is an experiment when you garden.  I always find some ideas worked well and some just don’t.  I really enjoy the results, especially when it worked as well as it did this year with my carrots.

I had quite a few people tell me their carrots didn’t do very well or they didn’t grow at all.  I think there are 2 things that may have been the problem.

•  They planted the carrots to deep.  I just sprinkle my seeds on top of the ground and then I step on them to push them a little into the soil.  This helps them get moisture to germinate, also that little seed doesn’t have to climb out of the dirt very far.
• The second problem is possibly they did not keep the seeds moist, so they could germinate and get a really good start.

I am not an expert at all of this gardening stuff.  It is just something I enjoy and I like to share my experiences.  I hope you enjoyed my blog.

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