PLANTING CARROTS

How is your garden doing?  Are you harvesting baby carrots yet?

Carrots are one of the first items I plant in the early spring.

a painting I did of one of my favorite varieties of carrots,
Nantes

Find the sandiest part of your garden to plant your carrots in.  At the farm I plant rows of carrots in several blocks measuring about 20' by 20' leaving 6 inches between the rows. This allows you to have a bit of room to step when harvesting.  Using a hoe, I make a small trench and sprinkle in the seed, covering with just a thin layer of soil.  Mist carefully with water until well soaked then add fresh grass clippings scattered lightly over the top.  I found the clippings were the best mulch to use as they weren't to heavy and did not block the sunlight, yet helped keep in the needed moisture to allow the seed to germinate.   Keep moist for 3 weeks  the seeds take quite a while to germinate, add more grass clippings if needed.

  

The carrots pictured above are planted in soil that is heavy clay.  Lots of organic matter (goat manure, old hay and compost) was tilled into the soil before planting.  I also mounded the bed by shoveling the pathways out and placing the dirt in the wide row. You will want your soil to be loose to a depth of at lease 10 inches. If your soil is heavy and compact you will not get the carrots to grow long and straight.

Once your carrots are sprouted and the stems are about an inch high I thin the bed by running a garden rake lightly over the rows.  I do not weed until the carrots tops are about 4 inches high.  The weeds are pulled by hand and laid in the rows for a green manure (above picture) and then the bed is covered with  2 or 3 inches of old hay or straw.

.  As the carrots mature I continue to thin the baby carrots to sell at market. Remember to water well.   By late summer the carrots are sufficiently thinned enough to allow for good root development before winter sets in.

These carrots average about 10 inches in length

Harvesting Carrots:

If your winters are mild just leave them in the ground.  Cover with old straw bales and simply move the bale and dig out the carrots you need.

My winters are too cold to leave them in the ground so in the late fall before hard frosts begin the carrots are harvested with a shovel.  as much dirt is left attached as possible and then they are placed in plastic storage bins.  DO NOT WASH!

The bins are placed in a cold room.  (MY back porch stays about 35 degrees all winter).  If you have a  dark root cellar or basement storage room those would work great.  To allow for good air circulation so the carrots won't rot, I leave the lid off the bin. However if you are storing them where they will get exposed to natural light, drill a few holes in the bottom, sides, and lid of your bin (don't use a clear bin).  This will help keep the light out so they won't begin to sprout, but will have good air circulation.

The carrots will start to become a bit soft before spring hits. Keep an eye on them and as soon as you find them loosing their crispness wash and store as many carrots that will fit in your fridge.  They will stay good and crunchy for another 3 weeks.  The carrots in storage can be used in stews, steamed, candied, or thrown in the crockpot.

  Carrots freeze extremely well. I slice them fairly thick, blanch and freeze.  Try drying in a food dehydrator for long term storage.  Make certain they are completely dried then place in an air tight glass jar and store in a dark, cool place.

Carrots make great house plants during the winter.  Just cut off and inch below the stems and pot in soil. place in a sunny window.

Jerusalem Artichokes/Sunchokes

#note:  this post was written this past spring, but for some reason I didn't post it.  Jerusalem Artichokes can be dug this time of year.  Replant enough tubers to have a harvest for next year.  If your winters are extremely cold, I would suggest a covering of old hay or straw.

After harvesting a long 50 foot row of Jerusalem Artichokes this past fall, keeping enough to replant, the rest were taken to market.  Jerusalem Artichokes are one of the first vegetables to break ground in the spring, but not this year.  Apparently there WAS a well fed gopher that  munched on the tubers all winter.  Snug underground he found that by digging along in a straight line he would have plenty of food for the winter.

With spring well underway, I will not be ordering roots from a gardening catalog, or begging starts from a neighbor because they do not transplant as well after the stems are over 6-8 inches.  I will be off to the grocery store to buy several bags of the 

"Sunchoke" tubers you can purchase in the produce section.  Sometimes in the spring they are a little harder to find, but generally they are available.  This method also works in the fall.

.

Freshly dug Tubers

Late in the fall the flowers will fade and the stalks will lose all their leaves and turn brown.  After several hard frost the tubers are ready to dig.  I generally dig enough to replant for the next season and the remaining are dug out as needed.  "This way they maintain their crispness.  Sunchokes will stay crisp in your fridge for only about 3-4-weeks.  Place bales of hay over your tubers that have been left in the ground.  This will keep the ground from freezing and allow for longer harvests.  

When they are mature, the tops will die back.

When the stalks have turned brown and become brittle is the time to dig.

 I replant the smaller tubers in the same spot and harvest the larger ones for market.

I prefer to eat these raw, thinly sliced in a salad, or lightly sauteed in a stir fry.  Try grating them and frying them on a hot cast iron skillet like hash browns.

Heirloom Beets

Beets are easy to grow.  Plant your seeds about 3 inches apart for best results.  A beet seed is often referred to as a flower seed because 3 or more beets can grow from a single seed.  As the beets mature, carefully harvest the largest beet from the group and let the smaller ones continue to mature.  Keep harvesting  using this method until there is a single beet left and allow it to grow until the end of the season.  I leave several of the biggest beets in the ground to winter over (hoping the gophers don't find them) and collect the seed from them the following year. 

I particularly like to grow the Heirloom beet  "Cylindra".  This beet grows long roots that are just the right size for slicing to make pickled beets.  They are tasty in a fresh beet salad and the deep dark purple color makes a nice dye for hand spun yarn.

The Heirloom "Chioggia"  is an interesting beet to grow.  It has rings inside.  The taste in my opinion is not quite as earthy as the other beets I grow.  I do not like it quite as well, but it's unique colors make it a ,must in my garden!

The good ole stand by "Detroit Red"  produces  extremely well.  But my all time favorite is "Golden".  This beet does not preform as well as the other beets.  It takes a little more care, and make sure to keep the seeds moist after planting.  The germination rate is not quite as high as other beets.  The amazing taste is why I fuss over this beet.  It has the wonderful "earthy" taste of other beets, but I find is has a sweetness to it that puts it on the top of my list.

 My favorite is the "Golden Beet"

starting at far left:  Cilantro,  Bull's Blood Beets and Clyindra Beets

I intentionally plant my beets very thickly.  The greens (tops) are harvested  for market all through the summer.  In mid summer I begin picking through them and harvest the beets that are "baby beet" size. 

 Cutting the tops off the beets does not inhibit their growth because they quickly send up new leaves.  If you are growing for greens specifically, the Bull's Blood Beet and the Chioggia are good choices, but any beet variety will give you a good harvest of greens.  As the summer progresses I continue to harvest the beets as they mature.  By late summer I have thinned them out sufficiently for the roots to mature into a large beet.  I love baby beets with the greens intact, simmered until soft.  Eaten with a pat of butter and a splash of vinegar.  Try them roasted along with baby carrots and new potatoes.

More Info here: 

I has been a while since I posted.  Been busier  than a hive of bees around here.  Hope everyone is getting their gardens in and that all your efforts will be rewarded with a big, bountiful harvest!

Root Crops at market

Yummy beets will be at market again this week

The SWEET GOLDEN

CHIGGOIA, CYLINDER, and Detroit Red

(aren't they beautiful)

Turnips and Potatoes

ONION BRAIDS

probably my last week for purple and yellow beans

I will have a big variety of summer veges 

and bushels and bushels of CARROTS!

Please come early, I will be leaving market at 5:00 for an

 ARTIST RECEPTION

at the Gallery in the Western Park Museum

 Vernal, Utah

celebrating the 25th annual Jurried show

I've entered several of my paintings

hope you all come out to see the exhibit!

I just couldn't resist, I entered this little 8x10 self portrait entitled
 "FarmHER JILL"
 in the open oil category
hopefully the judge has a sense of humor!

TURNIPS

I quite often hear people comment that they don't like turnips.  I wonder to myself if they have tried them or just assume they are not tasty to eat.  Several years ago at my husbands' family traditional 24th of July celebration, I took a platter of veges from the garden.  I brought carrots, radishes, young beans, peas, broccoli, cauliflower, and had peeled turnips, julienned  into thin pencil strips.   I had made a tasty radish and cream cheese  dip to accompany the vegetables.

.   Everyone was enjoying them (the turnips) until someone asked what the thin white things were.  Well, the minute I said "turnip",  everyone said "Ewwwww,  I don't like turnips", and quit eating them

Did you know the tradition of pumpkin carving was originally turnips that were carved?

On all-hallows eve hundreds of years ago the Celtic people of Ireland would carve out turnips, adding a face and filling with glowing embers.  They would be placed on doorsteps to keep away the evil spirits that wandered around on that night.  When the Irish came to America and discovered the native pumpkin (something they did not have in Ireland)  the use of turnips was replaced with the larger, easier to carve pumpkin.

Turnips have been in the CSA deliveries the past couple of weeks.

I enjoy turnips, peeled and eaten raw,

 or try roasting with small new potatoes, carrots, beets and parsnips.

  

mix root vegetables of similar sizes together

add onions and peppers

season well with olive oil, Italian seasoning, and ground sea salt

roast in a hot oven 400-425 degrees until vegetables are soft

try adding raw, peeled, and grated turnips to your favorite cabbage coleslaw recipe

Planting Potatoes

                          
                                         The moon is waning.  It is time to plant the potatoes.

                                              Red Potatoes saved from last years crop

Cut potatoes, leaving 3 or 4 eyes in each piece

and the sprouts attached

This large potato I cut into 4 pieces.  Leave potatoes whole if they are small.

I only plant about an acre of potatoes so this is my fancy planting equipment:  a bucket to carry the seed in, and a shovel to dig the rows and then plant the seed by digging down deep into the top of the row.  Now holding the shovel with all the dirt on, I somehow reach into the bucket and plant the seed as far into the ground as possible.   The dirt is replaced and hilled up.  By planting very deep I miss setting the crop back due to frost, and spend less time hilling up  over the growing season.  Oh did I forget to mention you also need a good strong back. ( I'm getting to old for this!)

potatoes are planted very deep and hilled up with a hoe when I weed

I have planted Blue, Red, and Yukon Gold thus far, I will be planting Purple Viking and Russets and hopefully have them in by tomorrow night.

"chitting or greening potatoes"

The potato sprouts have turned green.  This happens when the potato is set out in the sun before planting.  Many small gardeners use this method, it gives you a jump start on the season.  I plant potatoes right out of the root cellar and  leave the white, un-green sprouts on.  If the sprouts are too long you can break them off the potato and plant just the sprouts.  I have had good success using this method.  Potato seed can be expensive and if you plant the longer sprouts separate from the potato you can increase your crop substantially.

                                       these potatoes have sprouts over a foot long

This is a bag of potatoes given to me by a neighbor.  He had kept them in the paper bag and the sprouts had grown about a foot tall.  I decided to experiment.  I have tried all kinds of ways to grow potatoes in containers over the years without much success.   Large tires stacked up higher and higher as the vines grow.  Fenced in areas using sawdust and straw, barrels etc.  nothing has worked well, but I am always looking for ways to produce more in less space.  So I tried this:

A large black pipe about 4 feet wide.  Placed the potatoes on the ground and stood the sprouts up vertically; covered the potatoes with a couple 5 gallon buckets of compost, watered in well, shoveled dirt over that, and then put straw for the next layer being careful to keep the sprouts vertical.  Two more buckets of compost, straw and another bucket of compost just for good measure.  We'll see what happens.

I read that some potato varieties will only set on a certain amount of potatoes. To raise potatoes in a barrel you need one that will set all along the root system as it climbs higher.  The suggested types are Yellow Finn and Pontiac Red.  I have reds in the black pipe.

With the remaining sprouts and potato intact, I am going to dig small trenches and lay the  1 to 2 foot sprouts down length-wise.   (Usually I plant the sprouts  deep, just like potatoes, but I want to try something different)  Cover  over with a little bit of dirt, water them in well and then lay a 4 inch layer of straw over-top.  To keep the wind from blowing the straw away I will place 5x16 foot wire cattle panels on the straw.  It will be easy to remove the panels and add more straw as the vines break the surface.  Let's see if it will work.

Here is a picture half way through the growing season.  I dug trenches 3 inches deep and placed the potatoe with sprouts lengthwise along the bottom of  the trench.   I covered with a little dirt and 6 inches of straw, and then placed 16 foot wire panels over the straw to keep it from blowing away.  I removed the wire panels after the plants gained enough size to hold the straw down.  The weeds were kept to a minimum, except for wheat berries that sprouted, but those were pulled and fed to the chickens.  This has been the best method of growing (other than rows and hills)  I have tried.  The one drawback is  chickens scratching through the straw and discovering the new potatoes and eating them.

Welcome those of you who have stopped by from the square foot gardening forum.  I hope this will give you a little information.  I did not have good success with the potatoes in the black pipe.  As far as just planting the sprouts, I have had very good success.  The blue potatoes seem to produce the best from only planting the long sprouts.

Here are the end of the season results:

When the vines are dead I just use a regular shovel to remove the potatoes

This is my usual harvest per hill

all this from just one little potato seed

                            I  was raised growing potatoes on the farm, read an earlier post
                             " You say potato, I say tater".
                                    Happy Planting!!!!