Carrots Are Tops

By: Backyard Living

At the root of it, a little TLC is all you need to grow this nutritious and delicious veggie.

Chill, Man

Try leaving some carrots in the ground during winter, then harvest during a thaw. The cold does them good--notice the sweeter taste!

Just for Fun

Did you know carrots are actually members of the parsley family? It's to do with those green leaves we usuallly cut off.
Carrots originally came from Afghanistan in (ironically) just about every color but orange: red, black, yellow, white, and purple. The Dutch eventually developed the orange carrot.
Yes, your skin will start to turn a yellow-orange color if you eat too many carrots. Check with a nutrition expert or doctor to determine a limit.

Quick Tip

There's no need to harvest all your carrots at once. Carrots can safely be left in the ground for weeks or more. If you cover them with thick mulch, they'll be fine even into the winter months.

Packing a Healthy Punch

Chock-full of vitamins and fiber, the common carrot is a nutritional powerhouse. In fact, a 1/2-cup serving contains four times the recommended daily allowance of vitamin A, all in the form of disease-fighting beta-carotene.

Those Crazy Carrots

To avoid oddly shaped, bitter carrots, avoid planting them in heavy clay and rocky soils--this interferes with their growth. Try creating a raised bed where the soil can drain easily--keep soil moist, but not wet.

Who would've guessed Bugs Bunny and Peter Rabbit are part of the healthy crowd? No, they don't pump iron. It's the carrots in their diet that put spring in their step.

Growing Carrots

Carrots need deep, loose soil so the roots develop fully as they grow downward. Till compost or peat moss into the top eight to nine inches of soil, removing any rock or debris, or create a deep raised bed. Once you've prepared your planting area, keep the following things in mind:

Carrots are a cool-season crop, so they grow best when planted in early spring. For a continuous harvest, plant a new batch every three to four weeks until midsummer.
Sow no more than two or three seeds per inch to avoid crowding. Plant them 1/4- to 1/2-inch deep in rows spaced one to one-and-a-half feet apart.
A few weeks after germination, when sprouts are about one inch tall, thin to two seedlings per inch for smaller-growing varieties, and one seedling per one to two inches for larger carrots. Weed by hand, and give the crop an inch of water each week.
Harvest smaller-growing carrots when roots are at least a 1/2 inch in diameter and larger-growing types at one inch in diameter.

Contact your local garden center or horticulture extension office to find out what grows best in your own backyard.