Carrot Heads
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Posts: 88
in Fruit & veg
Hi, I have a patch of carrots and I´m not sure when I must pull them up.
Should I wait till the leaves yellow and the plants die? There is no frost where I
live. Thanks.
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Posts: 88
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Posts: 88
Posts
Hi, rusflorum. It depends on the variety and when you planted it, and whether you want baby carrots or full grown ones. If you look at the base of the leaves, you should just see each carrot top. the thicker ones should be ready to pull. If you do this with alternate carrots, the ones left behind get more room to grow bigger. IMO the baby ones taste better alone, and the bigger ones are better for soups and stews. Once you have pulled a few, you will soon learn which are ready and which aren't.
I freeze some as babies and chop up the rest to freeze for stews over winter.
You don't HAVE to pull them up at all if you have a fairly light soil. If you protect them from frosts by covering them with cardboard or fleece or whatever then you can harvest them as you need them but as you don't have any frosts then just leave them in the ground until required.
The tops may wilt and look a bit of a mess but the root will be healthy and will happily wait for you. I assume you remembered to protect them from carrot fly.
Thanks for your answers. Most plants have thin carrots, yet, and I thought
and I will wait a bit longer. I have already pulled up two baby carrots, and they
were tiny but very tasty. Guess carrot flies have not found my garden yet!
I might have to try the crowbar method for my boys to have a go st 'biggest carrots', Verdun. The eldest, Sean is winning with his pumpkin this yr.