GA: Carrot haul!!

WOW, what a carrot haul!!!  Between the first/main bed, the second/smaller bed near the north end, and the third/smaller/late-planted bed along the west edge, today's harvest consisted of the following:

- ~3/4 blue bucket

- overflowing white rectangle bin

- blue bin

- and a flimsy berry basket for the late-planted bed, which had some decent-sized carrots but also a lot that were too small (this bed was sowed on August 4th and suffered from poor soil and little water since it was very dry and I didn't water very often).

When I got home, most of them I just rubbed off soil and spread them out to dry, on the 3-level metal rack (with a mix of towel / newspaper underneath each layer), as well as on newspaper on the table.  

For a sizable batch, which I'll donate to food banks, I removed most of the soil very easily by dumping them in a bucket of water and swooshing them around.

GA: Harvested the rest of the carrots, beets, and celery. So, all done for this year at GA.

And WOW, what a carrot haul!!!  See other post.

GA: FOY carrots!!! They look great!

Woo hoo!  So exciting!  Nice and long, they look very good.  That's 68 days to maturity -- in line with the 75 days google says.

GA: Final carrot harvest -- TONS AND TONS!!!

Wow, I had no idea how many carrots there were!  Will definitely be donating a good chunk of them!

The original sowing, of Bolero, whose greens always looked wimpy so I thought there wasn't much carrotness underground, actually were great!  Tons and tons!

The ones sown July 17th -- "Red Cored Chantenay" -- their fronds always looked strong and sure enough, a great harvest there, too.  These ones were broad at the top with a quick taper, a shorter carrot overall.  Definitely a different shape than the narrow Bolero.

Did a taste test -- at first I thought Bolero were sweeter, but really actually I think they all taste the same!  (yum)

Last carrots and beets harvested (have been several heavy frosts)

There have been several heavy frosts in recent weeks, so I harvested the rest of the carrots and beets.

I tried a carrot and can't say it seems any sweeter than the ones harvested through the summer.  Haven't had one of these beets yet.

But anyway, a very decent harvest of carrots and beets, though ~15% of the carrots seem to have had some kind of insect damage, so I'll have those carrots first.

Some carrot tops had the carrot weevil, but not many

At least I assume it's the carrot weevil which I had confirmed last year.  The tops of the affected carrots are damaged, but the rest of the carrot is fine.

Otherwise carrot harvesting is going well -- lots are a nice good size.

First peas and carrot harvested -- not the best-tasting

The peas weren't very sweet -- pretty bland actually...

The carrot was a test pull -- a decent size (but will let the others keep growing for a while yet) -- but again not sweet -- edible for sure, but not the best.

Harvested all potted Bolero carrots: Results

The carrots sowed July 26th in the big black pot were short, but great!  Not hairy, just short -- nice ~3" beauties.  No difference in size from the ones that I thinned generously vs. the ones I left more crowded.  I wonder if they would do fine in a shorter container, given they only used the upper bit of the pot.

On the other hand, the ones sowed April 12th in the grey rectangular pots, which growed beautifully in 2021, weren't a flop, but were all hairy and short.  Did I wait too long to harvest?  The July 26th ones noted above were much nicer.

Hmmm -- reviewing my notes -- the July 26th pot had been amended with kelp and MRP, whereas the April 12th one I didn't seem to have added anything to it -- maybe that could be related?

But regardless, they're all perfectly edible!

Carrot weevil damage in the upper third of a few carrots so far

Not a lot of loss from this so far.  I had noticed some carrot tops flopped over a while ago and wondered why... this must be it.

Just cut off the affected tops, the rest of the carrot parts were fine.

The weevils don't fly, so hopefully not a big deal for future years if I rotate the carrot crop enough.

Good info on this page:  http://omafra.gov.on.ca/english/crops/facts/93-077.htm

3 carrots harvested

Harvested 3 carrots, just because, and their tops looked big at the soil level.  They were a decent size, especially coming from the formerly-patio area.  Kind of sweet tasting -- nice!

First carrot harvested -- not ready yet

One of the carrots (Bolero) in the west bed was peeking up and looked decent size, so I harvested it.  Too soon -- not big enough yet.  Unsurprisingly given the poor nature of this bed, it's not straight -- and it has a few hairs.  Tasted good -- not fantastic, but very decent.

Today's harvest

Things are going gangbusters overall!  Today's harvest:

peas (tons)

broccoli (piracicaba) (getting a basketful every week)

zucchini (5th of the year)

kale (tons)

chard (tons)

dill (a few sprigs)

basil (lots)

stevia (good amount(

carrot (a bit too early)

Carrots ALL harvested -- great harvest! Bolero next year for sure!

Harvested ALL the remaining carrots today.  Previously I had harvested only a handful.  So, there were lots, and they almost all were very decent sizes. Best carrot harvest in several years for sure -- by far!  My guess is because of the minimally enhanced soil in this bed (central bed southwest corner), plus trying Bolero.

Next year I will forego Nantes and Touchon, and grow only Bolero, as they seem to have done the best.  (Hard to say 100% sure the difference because I used Bolero seeds to fill gaps in the Nantes/Touchon.)

Oh, and I came across an article (can't find it now) saying Bolero are very good for longer term storage, bonus.

Reason for harvesting them all in one go is because I moved the birdfeeder to that area today.

Beautiful straight, nice sized non-hairy carrot harvested!

This is the second or third nice carrot harvested this year.  It's been many years since I've had any half decent carrots -- they've been short, split, and very hairy.  Loving the carrots so far this year.  Doesn't look like the aphids were an issue.

A carrot harvested but it was small and forked

From the west-most third of the carrot bed, so might have been a Nantes unless it was one of the Boleros that I used to fill gaps throughout the bed.  The top at the soil looked like a nice size, so it was disappointing to see it was only a couple of inches and forked.  Tasted ok though.

The carrot greens are over 18" high, but I'll still wait before harvesting more.

Harvested beets, carrots, and fall-planted potatoes

Soooooo many beets, nice harvest.

Carrots once again are all small, and many are hairy.  Not particularly appealing, but, edible.

Fall-planted potatoes provided a nice little harvest actually!  2.5 pounds of baby potatoes. Not bad considering they were planted on August 8th and 22nd.

Container carrots good (first carrot harvest)

Harvested two carrots from the hanging-basket-type-container.  One had reached the bottom of the container as it started to bend to the side :-) 

Flavour was kind of meh but edible.

Ate the last of the carrots

Ate the last two carrots.  They had held up well.  Amazing they last so long just sitting in a plastic bag in the fridge.

Still many beets, potatoes, and squash (and a few carrots) from last year

Last year's harvest still here:

- beets (quite a few)
- potatoes
- carrots (only a few left now)
- butternut squash (5, including 2 biggg ones...  slowly getting through them)
- jumbo pink banana squash (the 2 ginormous first harvested ones, and one relatively reasonable size)


The freezer meals are getting eaten, but still lots left.

Harvested all remaining beets and carrots

Harvested all the remaining beets and carrots, because I want to empty the beds so I can do this once-per-5-or-10-years injection of horse manure + grounded up dried leaves.

Carrots are usually a disappointing harvest, same as this year -- a lot of very short/stubby carrots.  Some nice ones too though.

Beets were good, some huge ones, a lot of nice size and some teeny ones.