OT - vegetable growers, help with carrots

[pantherlj]

It's our first year doing a garden and we are having a blast with it! The tomatoes are great, peppers are great, zucchini were great until we dug them up (taking over the awesome lettuce and peppers). Cantaloupe are taking over the world!

I am sure I will have more questions in the future but for now.....

how do I know when my carrots are ready to come out? How do I get them out? I pull and the green rips off from the carrot They are Petite N Sweet carrots if that matters. I got a few out tonight. How do I store them - cut off ends, wash and stick in a bag? Any way to freeze them?

In the end, are they even worth it? It doesn't seem like it's a lot of production for the space they take up compared to beans or tomatoes.

 

[dizneechic]

I haven't grown carrots but for root veggies I have always heard you should water the area well and then pull up so it's easier. As for when they are ready, pull one up and taste, if you like it they are done (it's how we judge our lettuce )

I'm jealous your garden is doing so wonderful. We had nothing but rain fro a month and it seems like mine is off to a slow soggy start because of it (but the lettuce and snap peas loved it ).

 

[Maggie'sMom]

This is my first year growing carrots. DD loves carrots, and especially eating them when they still have the green tops attached. I can confirm they are easier to pull out if the area has been well-watered. But as for telling when they are ready, I'm not really sure. But we are looking for ones where you can see the orange sticking slightly above the soil. Then again, DD goes in there and just starts down the row pulling every one. Some are ready, some aren't.

 

[dyna]

Well to begin with all the carrots prolly not going to be the same size anyway. If the top of carrots starts poking thru the ground to much they will turn GREEN where exposed. If they allowed to get to big they get woody an tough not near as good to eat.

If they the baby carrots you can freeze them whole but might get more in bag if you cut them up a bit. Which takes up less freezer space. Wash an dry them well. Then I'd put them on a single layer on cookie sheet an freeze just till frozen then put them in a freezer bag so I could pull out how ever many I wanted easy. If you just stick them in bag you gonna have a clump the size of bag in a couple months takes longer to cook them that way too.