I had decided to get in the garden and weed it. So I'm hanging upside down shuffling sideways when what do I come across? Carrots tops! They weren't very tall. Could there be carrots underneath? If there were I was pretty sure they'd be too tiny to harvest.
I'd forgotten that I'd tossed a batch of seeds here last September. It's in one of the back "double dig" strips that we'd made last year. I'd already harvested all the carrots from the raised bed back in January. Those carrots pulled up easily and were sweet and yummy. So easy, I'd made a mental note to myself to always grow carrots in the raised beds.
I tried pulling these up with a yank and broke off the tops. The clay we call soil around here had them gripped tightly.
SM handed me the pitch fork and "Shazam"...CARROTS! And some were pretty good sized too. Well how about that!?! What a treat! I considered pulling only what I needed and letting the rest grow some more but I was concerned about the quality of the carrot if I let them be. They've been in the ground 6 months after all. Would these even be any good? We rinsed one of the bigger ones off and taste tested. It was fine so I decided to just pull the whole patch.
And here's another surprise...Look closely.
Yep, there's life in that there soil! Worms and tiny little micro-organisms. Seeing THAT was even better than seeing the carrots. We must be doing something right!
I swear I heard all the birds lining up on the fence line hoping to get in where I'd dug and get some worms for breakfast. (I tossed some cardboard over the newly dug patch when I left.) Sorry birds...those worms are an endangered species in my garden...None for you!
I went out front and tossed them on the sidewalk leading to the front door and sprayed them off.
Then I sat there in the early morning light and trimmed off all the tops. Back to the garden they go and now SM and I have lots of carrots to munch on of the next few weeks.
My first harvest of Spring 2012!
I'm envious-there's nothing better than FRESH carrots. And congrats on the worms. I remember the first time I saw them here. It's satisfying to know all that effort is working. Now, send up some of those carrots and no one gets hurt!
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Wow, carrots grew in your garden over the Winter? Amazing.
ReplyDeleteSue's BAAACK! (Shouting out to the blooging world!)
ReplyDeleteYou make me jealous with your trip out west and can there REALLY be too much sunshine?
Welcome home!
Chai Chai...what winter? LOL, I really was SHOCKED to find how big they were.
ReplyDeleteWow, what a wonderful surprise!
ReplyDeleteSo - do tell - what happened with the weeding... LOL
ReplyDeleteFantastic! I see carrot salad in your future!
ReplyDeleteIm so envious, I wish I had veggies in the garden ready to eat lol
ReplyDeleteWOW! What a fantastic surprise! Having carrots so early in the harvest year is wonderful :)
ReplyDeleteThese surprises are the best kind.
ReplyDeletelove it!
You could label them "gourmet baby carrots" and sell them! (I'm not serious . . . better you should get the healthy benefits of eating them yourselves.)
ReplyDeleteI tried to winter-over a batch of carrots in one of my raised beds one year. I covered them with a thick layer of straw mulch, then a 2" board of foam insulation and a cold frame top so it would be easy to get the snow off the bed. Long about December, I uncovered the bed to dig some carrots. The carrots had turned to orange slime. Experiment: FAIL!
Ewwww...Orange slime!
ReplyDeleteWow..what an amazing amount of carrots. I am unfamiliar with your garden zone so will explore your blog further and thanks for following mine. I really like your writing style. The dialogue in Fly catcher is hilarious... ;-)
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