So for every lovely long tapered carrot like the ones on the left, the garden is producing another troubling specimen like the ones on the right. Most gardening how-to books say this happens to carrots when there's too much nitrogen in the soil or when there are big clods of clay or rock in the soil....one that I've looked at says it could also be because of over-watering or overcrowding. Since I knew that it was a no-no to plant carrots on freshly manured or newly fertilized soil, I planted in a bed that hadn't received compost, manure or complete organic fertilizer since the last crop it grew. But still...I have a problem this year....I know I didn't over-water and it's not because of overcrowding so perhaps I needed to till the soil more carefully in the spring before I planted...maybe still too many small rocks or maybe my soil is still too fertile? It isn't making much sense to me right now....
So my weekly Homegrown Basket customers are receiving the tidier roots while CJR and I are feasting on the others, some of which are good for a few laughs like Mister and Missus, above. Sometimes, I'll include one or two fun ones for my customers if I think they'll appreciate it!
Unfortunaately, this one isn't even funny......grrrr......I hear that those packaged baby carrots that we can buy in the grocery stores are actually not baby carrots but the mis-shapened ones like these that are whittled away by a machine and made to look like what we expect carrots to look like. That seems like a good way to reduce the wasting of a lot of carrots....but I'm not sure that it's true since I have seen how many carrots are left lying in the big-production fields after the harvester has gone through.
To ease my carrot disappointment of 2010, I went back to last year's photos to remind myself that it is possible to grow beautiful carrots in my garden. Last year I had a gorgeous crop of orange, purple, red and yellow carrots. Purple and orange are my favourites!Here's a link to a most amazing site all about carrots. Who knew there was so much to learn about carrot. (don't miss the carrot clarinet!)
Some beautiful carrots in all different colours that I saw last fall at the greenmarket in NYC. To grow some just like these for next year's Homegrown Baskets is something for me to aspire to!
Beautiful!!! I love the personality of the "off ones" and I think the funky ones taste good too! Its probablly good for the customers to get "imperfect" produce on occasion!!! otherwise standards get raised out of the average farmers reach! We try to send along some produce that isnt perfect with an explanation.... ie flea beetle holes, weather etc. Its seems most of the CSA-ers are happy with it as long as they know why...
ReplyDeleteThank you so much for this comment Kelsey, I really appreciate it and I agree that it's good for us to remember what real honest food truly is like, perceived imperfections and all...that's quite a huge issue in our society, isn't it?
ReplyDeleteReally good to know that glorious organics is including some produce with issues and leading the way in info sharing and education...(also so important for home gardeners to know about the challenges of growing real food/realistic expectations, etc....)