What do you get when you plant carrots in March and dig them up in February?
Carrots, apparently.
I sowed my carrot seeds last spring with no method to the madness. I picked a carrot spot and just blanketed it in seeds. A thick patch came up, and every now and then, I’d pick the biggest one or two and eat them, making room for the smaller ones to grow.
It was a decent system, but it got away from me. November came, and it got dark and cold. And then my hoop house failed spectacularly. The carrots were still growing, but I wasn’t feeling it anymore.
Then the real cold came, and a few snowstorms. In the back of my mind, I knew those carrots were still down there, but I gave up on them. I didn’t know if they were frozen or mush, but I knew they were beyond help.
Turns out they weren’t!
The weather today was beautiful. I went down just to take stock, and I came back with something like ten pounds of carrots.
Some have split.
Some have really split.
Some are big.
Some are small.
And some are strange.
But most are basically happy and healthy. I cut off the tops, rubbed off the dirt, and stuffed them in a bag in the crisper.
We’re gonna have a heck of a roast one of these days.
Liz Baessler 
Many gardeners pick all their carrots in the fall and store them in a root cellar. But I often overwinter a lot of my carrots in the ground. But In the ground the carrots are more likely to split and become unedible. To prevent that, ideally pick the larger ones in the fall and let the smaller ones overwinter. I still have many carrots and green onions in the garden today that I planted last year. I pick then frequently for winter soups, carrot cake and other cooking (assuming the ground is not frozen, in which case it becomes and endeavor akin to chipping vegetables out of concrete).
LikeLiked by 1 person
The concrete scenario is what I’m used to, so I’ve never even tried overwintering. Last year at this time my poor garden was under a couple feet of snow! The ground was so soft yesterday that I was able to sift through it with my hands, though. You’re in Hungary, aren’t you? What are the winters like there?
LikeLike
Yes, in Hungary. Very different from California, where I was born and raised. 🙂 Hungary is a mid-continental climate. Winters can be very cold. But I live near lake Balaton and the water mass mitigates yearly temperatures. Have had heaps of snow some years, and little snow other years. Temps some years go down to -14C/7F but that is uncommon. This year was a very mild winter. My almond tree are even blooming a month earlier than last year!!!
LikeLike
I’m in New England where bitter cold is the norm and last year’s winter was extra bad. This year’s winter is outrageously mild here, too, though. My garlic’s already coming up a month or two ahead of schedule! I’m just waiting for the other shoe to drop and March to be frigid.
LikeLike