Cow eating out of rubbish bin, Pushkar, India
Growing Vegetables in a Dry Spot Using Old Milk Cartons
Organic Gardening Tips and Books for the Novices and even Experts
Advice Especially for the Sub-Tropical Organic Gardener
Colourful Carrots From Around the World
Seed Suppliers Page (Australia)
Seed Savers' Network Byron Bay
Tomatoes (Including diseases and fruitfly in tomatoes)
Green Paddocks Publishing and Producing Australia
The Chai Wallah Picture Publishing Project
Farming with Bev and Peter Brock in Nutfield
Zen Cleaning Robot Book of Quotes
OriginsWhen thinking of carrots most people think of orange. But orange carrots only seemed to appear after the Middle Ages when a Dutch gardener obtained a mutation with that pigment. The colour was later adopted by the Dutch international football (a.k.a soccer) team as a mark of respect to the hearty root vegetable. Why orange became the norm for carrots, I don't know. Someone else probably does. Perhaps you should Google it. Why the Dutch like carrots so much, I also don't know. But I do know some more about the subject of carrots in general if you would like to read on. Before the orange, carrots came, and still do come, in purple* (some call this one maroon), yellow and white. I've grown all the different colours and have found that in suitable conditions the white and yellow ones have excellent flavour that cannot be distinguished from the many orange varieties. And all are excellent both raw and in cooking. Digger's Seeds, of Dromana Victoria, have a nice selection of these in their mixed heirloom carrot mix. This includes: Orange Chantenay, Yellow Austrian Lobbericher and Belgium White and you can expect roots of up to 25cm in length in 126 days. |
Some white carrots
A disected purple Pakistani carrot |
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Carrots are native to Europe, northern Africa, Afghanistan and central Asia. And the purple, or maroon, variety has been called a Pakistani carrot. Apart from the Dutch, it seems that the Japanese were also responsible for developing longer roots, perhaps to compete with their favourite Daikon Radish, which can grow to the size of a small human. The wild ancestors of the carrot, Queen Ann's Lace can still be found growing amongst hedges in Ireland and England and for miles, or kilometres, along the Princess Highway between Warragul and Morwell (and other places) in eastern Victoria, Australia. Look out for their many white, umbrella-like, flowers. I'm not sure if the millions of feral Australian rabbits are partial to them. CultivationDigger's Seeds suggest growing carrots in well-drained soils and to thin out rigorously as well as water evenly. The water is very important, and the ground around them should never be allowed to dry out completely. You are best to plant them were water will reach them daily - permaculturists suggest a pipe, perhaps from your kitchen sink to the garden, were water can seep gradually around them. Bear in mind though that they are not a water crop. Keeping them moist is different from drowning them. You can sow the seed when the soil temperature - which is different from the air temperature - is between 7 and 18 degrees Celsius. And it is suggested that you plant them 10cm apart and have 20cm between rows. Some very good companion to carrots are garlic and most members of the onion family. The strong smell of these plants is said to repel the carrot fly which attacks and bores holes into otherwise nice carrots. Carrots are biennials (grow over two years), and they will, in temperate climates, shoot up a large flower in their second year. The flower is insect-pollinated and different varieties of carrots will cross-pollinate. In subtropical climates carrots may produce flowers and seeds in their first year, whilst in climates were the ground freezes, carrot plants may have to be dug up and replanted in spring if you wish to obtain seed from them. For more info on saving seed, get the Seed Savers' Handbook by Michel and Jude Fanton. There's a link on the side of the page for them.Indexe-mail:greenpaddocks@gmail.com© J.R.Atwood 2008
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