My dragon carrot harvest today

[gixxerific]

These are Dragon Carrots. They were an experiment that I tried out. They were planted in buckets in early Feb in the basement. I have always not not so great luck in the ground the soil needs to be just right for carrots we all know.



I wouldn't call it a great success but they did pretty well for what it was. You will notice they are all pretty straight and that is good. They do have a good sweet taste to them. As you can see they are not purple all the way through. I will do this again next year in pots. These were in a smaller 4 gallon but I have 10 gallon pots so that is what I will use. Onions and garlic do well in pots as well.

I still have some more in the ground along with other variety's.

I do have a few ?'s though (Jal you listening?). I did not let the tops die back all the way. But I couldn't wait any more. They have been growing for a long time. Is it really necessary for the tops to die back. One more ? Do you think it is way too late to try this again in a pot I have a bunch more seed and dirt to spare so if it wouldn't hurt being so hot I will give it another go.

Dono

[applestar]

I'm thinking if carrots don't germinate in the heat, you could always bring the pot inside (basement?) and let them germinate there, then take it back outside. Also, later on, if necessary, you could bury the entire pot -- 1/2 way or all the way in the ground before the freezing weather arrives, and pile mulch over it. Probably in your sweet potato bed or somewhere you've already dug up.

[garden5]

Wow, looks great, Gix. Are those all that you grew in that pot or were there more?

I read that carrot seeds don't sprout well in the heat, so perhaps so refrigerator germination may be necessary.

This is from the World Carrot Museum (yes, there is such a thing):

Bolting is triggered either by a cold spell (vernalisation) or by changes in day-length (photoperiod). Unsettled weather conditions early in the season can trigger flowers in the first year. This usually occurs after a prolonged cold spell but cold nights, hot days and late frosts may also contribute to vernalisation

Successional sowings will help to achieve a constant harvestable supply if the season is changeable.
Carrots are cool-weather plants. Growing them in really warm weather results in a woody texture and poor flavour and colour. Growing through the hot summer sometimes results in carrots that have bolted .

Some varieties are bred to be bolt-resistant. For example FI Primo or Valor F1, also I have found the golf ball varieties Parmex or Paris Market rarely bolt. There are a couple of rarer varieties - Redland and Topweight - which are also bolt resistant.

For some reason white carrots seem to do better. My purple and blacks do it more often!

Also:

Carrots are a cool-season crop. They are sweetest when daytime temperatures are between 60 and 70 degrees and nights are in the 50s. As the temperatures rise, quality is reduced. These vegetables also prefer a loose sandy-loam soil. Soil that is high in clay may be part of your problem.
As the plant and top growth mature, the carrot also grows in size and tries to expand. In heavier soils, the roots push upward instead of downward. The exposed part receives sunlight and develops chlorophyll, causing the top of the carrot and core to turn green. The green parts have a bitter taste. Soil that holds moisture for prolonged periods will also cause problems, including poor colouration.

It sounds like you may want to grow them in your basement for awhile, protected from the heat, until about late summer, when you could put them out for a fall crop.

Good luck .

[gixxerific]

That was all from the one pot. There were a few more that I pulled earlier in the year. It was a fairly small pot and they were somewhat crowded. But did alright for the conditions they were in.

Maybe I will wait till later with the fall crops to start again.

[gixxerific]

I'm really wondering about the ones in the ground with it being so hot and the fact they have been in for a while. I'm not sure if I should just pull them and plant beans there or give them a chance. I don't think they are very big yet. The tops are still going good, what the rabbits didn't eat (rabbit fence and all ).

[TZ -OH6]

I gave up. My garden is surrounded by wild carrot and filled with volunteers, but I can't get food carrots to germinate or grow well. They don't even get a chance for the rocks and clay clods to screw them up. I guess I could shell out a hundred bucks to make a raised bed full of potting mix, but that ain't gonna happen. I do wish I could grow some red and purple carrots though.

[rainbowgardener]

I'm in Cincinnati. I don't have any trouble getting carrots to germinate, but I put them out early (direct sow seed in the ground), prior to last frost date. I do only grow the short varieties because of heavy clay soil.

[jal_ut]

Carrots grow all season here. Even through July and August with temps in the min 90s. You don't wait for the tops to die back to harvest. You harvest when you have something big enough to eat.



These carrots were planted in April and the harvest is in October. You see, there is snow on the mountain. The tops are still green and growing. The variety is Royal Chantenay. It is a short carrot, but they get large and heavy with enough growing time.

If you can get the seed to germinate, I think you can grow some more now. I never try to germinate seed in hot weather, I just plant enough in April to last me all season.

[LindsayArthurRTR]

Oh wow! These look great! I would love to try and grow them next year!

[gixxerific]

Enough said I just got done checking one of my Half longs and it was thumb sized. They are still growing I will let them go. I just want a place to put beans. As far as trying again i guess it can't hurt, it's all an experiment anyways.

[gixxerific]

I gave up. My garden is surrounded by wild carrot and filled with volunteers, but I can't get food carrots to germinate or grow well. They don't even get a chance for the rocks and clay clods to screw them up. I guess I could shell out a hundred bucks to make a raised bed full of potting mix, but that ain't gonna happen. I do wish I could grow some red and purple carrots though.

Be careful with the wild carrots I have read they are poisonous. I believe one way to tell is that edible carrots have hairs and the wild one's don't let me check on that.

[rainbowgardener]

Wild carrots (Queen Anne's lace) are the plants from which our current carrots were domesticated and they are perfectly edible. The only trouble is there are some plants (including water hemlock and poison hemlock) that somewhat resemble wild carrot, that are quite toxic. So you have to know what you are looking at. The wild carrot root should be somewhat carroty looking AND smelling. If it doesn't smell like carrots, don't eat it!

PS. I had poison hemlock show up volunteer in my garden a couple years ago. I did think it was QA Lace at first (though you can tell the difference if you look closely enough), but then it kept growing and growing and ended up 3 times as big and tall as the QAL ever gets! At that point you would NOT mix them up!

[applestar]

TZ, THERE's the argument against too much domestication. By all rights, if the QAL can grow in and around your garden, so should carrots. Maybe try different varieties that are closer to their wild forebears?

[garden5]

Gix, why don't you try pulling maybe half of the carrots and putting beans in their place?

Sorry to hear about your rabbit-trouble , I think they call them "rabbit fences" because the rabbits like to eat them .

[TZ -OH6]

QAL has the same nasty harsh "wild" taste that parsnips and big overgrown carrots have. I wonder how "heritage" I would have to go to get something that would grow well, and if they would have the wild tast to them.


Maybe I should just break down and rent a rototiller and pick up some rocks.