Garden Tips: Carrots, Onions and Garlic

Tips on Growing Carrots

How to Grow Carrots:
Today there are more varieties of carrots than ever before. The plant breeders are coming up with carrots that are red, purple, orange, yellow and white. Many varieties are being bred for increased healthful beta-carotenes. Generally speaking the more color in the carrot the more vitamins.

Soil:
The soil needs to be loose and crumbly. If you have sandy soil, add 1 part compost (or well rotted cow/alpaca manure) to 1 part sphagnum peat moss to 3 parts sandy soil. Work this down 12 inches or more into your raised planting bed. For clay soils Larry has worked in 1 part compost (or well rotted cow/alpaca manure) to 2 parts sphagnum peat moss to 2 parts soil. He also adds 1 cup of blood meal, and 1 cup of bone meal for every 10 square feet of garden bed. Again work this down 12 inches or more into your raised bed. Using either of these soil mixes in a raised bed will allow you to grow just about any kind of carrot.

Note: Carrots do not like fresh manure in the soil. Too much nitrogen will cause the carrots to grow hairy little roots all up and down the carrot. When you add manure make sure it is well rotted and it is best to add it to your soil in the fall.
    
Varieties of Carrots:
Carrots can be long, tampered and slender. These varieties grow best in loose sandy soil. They can also be short and blocky. These can be grown in clay type soils. It is best however to plant any of your carrots in soil that is loose and free from rocks and pebbles.

One of our gardener’s favorites is Mokum, a sweet tender carrot that is early maturing. Larry plants these carrots in the spring and a second crop in late July for a fall harvest. They are crisp and brittle so it is best to dig them out deeply with a garden fork (pitch fork). This one is great eaten raw.

          Mokum Carrots

Another favorite is Ingot. It is very high in beta-carotene and also sweet. It is good for canning and freezing but is also good in salads.
Ingot Carrots

If you want to grow really different carrots and brighten up any dish or relish tray that calls for carrots try some of the red varieties like Healthmaster or Atomic Red (available through Vermont Bean Co.). For a yellow carrot try Yellowstone.

            Yellowstone Carrots

When and How to Plant:
Carrots should be planted in the early spring and perhaps again in late July (70 days or less to mature varieties only!). Plant them ¼ to ½ inch in depth and cover with fine crumbly soil. Larry next tops this row with a ½ inch layer of dried grass clippings. Most lawns in early spring have a thatch layer that can easily be raked up to give you all the dried grass you want. It is hard work but it is worth it. Now water gently.

Poor germination of your carrots is almost always due to the gardener letting his/her carrot row dry up. Larry says, “Keep your carrot seeds moist at all times, but never flood your carrots with water either”. During the first few weeks of growth your little carrot seedlings are forming their tapered root. If they encounter rocks in the soil, or if the soil is too compacted or there has been a huge rain storm this could deform your carrots. Many of the gardeners plant their carrots in blocks or wide rows instead of single rows. It is best to try to sow your seeds ½ inch apart and thin to 1 ½ -2 inches after a month of growth. Crowded carrots will not give you more carrots! Since the seeds are so tiny you may wish to buy pelleted seeds or seed tapes. The pelleted seeds are individually coated in clay and about the size of a BB. It is easy to use but a little bit more expensive. Seed tapes are seeds spaced out and glued onto a porous tape. You just dig a shallow trench as long as the tape. Place the tape in the trench, cover and water!

Larry makes his own seed tape by buying blotter paper at the stationary store. Next he cuts the paper into strips 1 inch wide and as long as the blotter paper. Taking the smallest of paint brushes he dabs a drop of wheat paste (flour and water mixed to a syrupy consistency) onto the strip every 1 ½ inch. He next drops one to two carrot seeds onto each drop and lets it dry. You can have seed tapes for a fraction of the cost! This method works for lettuce, spinach, dill, basil and more.

Harvesting Your Carrots:
Many of our gardeners say that carrots taste sweetest in the fall after a light frost has touched them. Larry can’t wait until fall so he plants several varieties. Some mature early and some later. He is rewarded with a continual harvest from mid July on through the fall. Don’t be afraid to leave some of your carrots in the ground through November and possibly December. After the first heavy frost cover your carrots with 3-6 inches of straw. This Thanksgiving Larry just pushed back the straw and harvested enough carrots for his family and relatives.

If you have some methods that have worked for you, please share.

         
                                    
          

Quick Tips

• Choose a very sunny location, 8 hours or more of direct sun per day.
• Onions are heavy feeders. Prepare the soil by adding bone and blood meal. Fertilize every two weeks with 1/2 strength fish emulsion and seaweed extract (read the directions as to the dilution and then cut it in half).
• Onions need moist, well drained soil but not soggy soil. Do not let them dry out.
• When they send up their flower, pinch or cut it off.
• Harvest in the late summer (usually the last week in August) when some of the leaves are starting to turn brown or the leaves are falling over.
• Let them cure in a warm, dry, well ventilated area for about two weeks. A warm garden shed or garage works well. The stems close to the neck should be fully dried before storage.
• When dried they can moved into a cool, dark basement for storage.

About Onions

        
Buy onion plants, as shown above, available at some local garden shops and in catalogs

There are three main types of onions. First is the short day or Southern varieties. Avoid these. They will most likely not form large bulbs and you may be disappointed. Many of the onion sets (those small bulbs sold in mesh bags at your big box stores) are not labeled so you only know if you are getting red, white or yellow onions. Avoid these as well.The next type is the long day or Northern varieties. These include Walla Walla and Sweet Spanish Hybrid. These will grow OK. If you want truly the best, grow mid day or day neutral varieties.  Larry has had great success with the yellow mid day, Candy Hybrid. It grows to softball size and stores well. If you want a mid day red, try Sweet Candy Red and for a great white sweet onion, try Super Star Hybrid.

These mid day types should be ordered as onion plants in bunches through a seed catalog. They will arrive at your door the last week in April. Be sure your garden is ready to plant these guys. The frosty cold nights ahead will not hurt them.

The sweet mid day onions mentioned above will not store much longer than two to three months. For a good long storage onion also try Copra and Red Zepplin.

How to Grow Great Garlic

            



Quick Tips

• Like onions, plant in a sunny location. Along Colorado’s Front Range, garlic should be planted the first week in October for next year’s harvest. This is very important if you want to grow large bulbs.
• Garlic is now available at your local garden centers or can be ordered from a local growers, garden catalogs or on-line. Be sure to get your order in on time for fall planting.
• Prepare the soil by adding 2 to 3 inches of aged compost and/or sphagnum peat moss to the area to be planted and work it into the top 6 to 8 inches. Also add bone and blood meal (1 tablespoon each for every clove planted).
• Each bulb is made up of a bunch of cloves. Plant each clove (do not remove the skin) pointed end up (root side down)on 6 inch centers, 3-4 inches deep.
• Garlic needs moist, well drained soil but not soggy soil. Extended drought will reduce the size of your bulbs that you will harvest next summer.
• In November, mulch over your garlic planting with a 6 to 8 inch layer of straw/dried grass mix.
• They will sprout during the warm fall days. This is normal. The winter will not harm the shoots. It is also normal for the sprouts to experience a slight browning on the tips.
• Water through the fall/winter/spring season as needed. It is easy in the late winter or very early spring to forget to check on watering.
• If you missed the fall planting, plant the same time you plant onions in the early spring.
• In late spring and through the middle of June, fertilize every three weeks with 1/2 strength fish emulsion and seaweed extract (read the directions as to the dilution and then cut it in half).
• Break off the flower (the scape) when it appears. This will increase the size of the bulb. The scape is good to eat and can be chopped and used like garlic or tempura battered and fried.
• Harvest in the middle to late summer (average date for Colorado Springs is July 21) when some of the leaves are starting to turn brown and the bulbs are large.
• Cure just like you would onions by setting the entire plant on a screen or newspaper in a warm well ventilated area out of the sun. We make sure to label our garlic as they dry and loosely bunching the same variety  together.  In two or three weeks the bulb will be dried and ready for storage inside your house. Cut off the leaves, leaving about two inches of stem attached to the bulb.
• Use a permanent marker and write the name of the garlic on each bulb (see picture above). 
• Store in a cool basement in small paper bags (2-4 bulbs per bag). Keep the bulbs whole until you are ready to use them.
• Save a few of the biggest bulbs to plant in October for next year's crop.

Our Favorite Varieties of Garlic
They can be ordered from a local grower, Walt, who owns and operates The Garlic Store, in Fort Collins, Colorado.

Chesnok Red
This is a purple striped hardneck. It originated from an area around the Republic of Georgia (formerly part of the Soviet Union). When cooked it retains its flavor and has a great creamy texture.

Siberian
This hardneck garlic is a very cold hardy variety and one of Larry and Anna's all around favorites. This is a medium to strong flavored garlic that gets a bit hotter after a month in storage! Yum! It has been reported to have a very high allicin content. Allicin boosts the immune system, supports normal cholesterol levels and aids circulation.

Georgian Fire
This hardneck is one hot garlic. It starts out hot to the taste but quickly mellows with a strong, wonderful garlic flavor.

Spanish Roja
This hardneck variety is most popular with Northern Italian chefs. Some say it has the true garlic taste. Use this one raw to rub around a large salad bowl before you mix in the greens!

Inchelium Red
This softneck variety has won many national taste tests. They are great baked and blended into mashed potatoes. It stores the longest of any we have grown and should be eaten last (if you can wait!)