Life in the Garden Part 45: Carrots

The garden wasn't a big success this year; Seattle just didn't get warm and sunny enough (shocking, I know), but there were a few bright spots.  One of those spots was my carrot crop.

I planted a few carrots for use in salads, or for when The GF needs to throw one into a stock or soup or some other magical thing that comes out of her kitchen.  Neither of us is a big fan of carrots (she's gotten skilled at picking out carrot bits with chop sticks) but they are a useful ingredient.  And home grown vegetables always taste best anyway.

What I like about the carrot crop is that it is hardy.  Once the vegetable grow, I can leave them in the ground until I'm ready for them.  Tomatoes and strawberries have to come off their vines as soon as they ripen, but carrots are content to sit there in the dirt growing bigger and drinking water.

That's how one carrot looked on 2010-10-23.  It got pretty twisted up in the ground.

I think the big mistake I make with my carrots was planting my seedling in peet pots to start them, instead of planting straight in the ground.  Normally thin roots grow right through the peet pots so it's not an issue.  With carrots, though, the one big root is the whole point.  So my carrots had to twist and split them selves in order to grow.  Next year, I'll direct sow.

It is getting into November, and it was time to enjoy more of the garden's bounty.  I pulled that carrot on 2010-11-16, and here's what I got:










It was quite a bit of carrot for one plant.  I suppose you could argue it was multiple plants.

To prep it, I cut off the hub and was left with these:





I scrubbed them, and they cleaned up easily.  They were also easy to peel.  I did all that, and then chopped them up and tried a bit.





They were crisp and clean and tasted like carrots.  They may have been a little less pungent than commercial carrots, but they were still pretty good.  They are not so good that I will sit on the couch and eat them like Twizzlers, but they're not disgusting.

So what did I do with the carrots?  Ramen.





This was any ordinary Nissin Top Ramen though, (okay the bowl I had after this was the regular Nissin Top Ramen).  This was Sapporo Ichiban Ramen.





They carrots were good in the Ramen.  They soaked up broth but stayed crispy.  They also cooled off the boiling water when I put them in.  They turned out to be a really nice addition to the soup. Plus I can now pretend it's healthy soup.

This is reason enough to grow more next year.

You can see more of my carrots and other garden picture here.

You can read more about Life in the Garden here.