ok i started a small carrot bed from seed. brand new soil. today i picked a nice sized, good lookin carrot! i cut it into little pieces to snack on....i honestly think that it was the most discusting taste i have ever experianced!!! it was soooooo bitter! it was like an explosion of turpentine filled my mouth. the taste lingered in my mouth for about 30 min. all of the carrots are like that! its grose!
so whats the issue???
THE MOST HORRID THING I HAVE EVER GROWN!!!
How high are your temps right now?
Carrots are a cool weather crop and like radishes and turnips if they are grown in the heat they usually taste bitter and woody. I was just in the San fernando Valley and it was hot! You may want to try again when the temps. are cooler.
Lisa
Cody, Morgan Hill is definitely too hot in the summer to grow carrots. I'm not surprised by your results. Found that out the hard way once myself. Try replanting your carrot garden.
Have you seen this planting calendar from Common Ground? It was created for the SF Bay Area in general. You may find this helpful when you are planning your garden.
http://www.commongroundinpaloalto.org/plantingcalendar.htm
well i guess that could explain it. i even fertilized them and kept them watered in hope that they would taste better but its been between 80-100'F all summer. some of the tips of the carrots even got crispy. i also attempted a blueberry in full sun...that was a major flop! haha
-thankyou!
Keep trying! We all have some garden flops occassionally. Work with your local seasons and I have full confidence that you will soon have a great veggie garden.
Beans of all sorts, chard, collards, corn, mustard greens, squash of all sorts, okra, eggplant, all peppers, tomatoes, basil - these all do well in your area in the summer.
I'm not getting enough heat on the peninsula this summer for my okra to do well. The peppers are taking longer to mature as well.
If you plant beets or carrots in the spring, they need to be a variety that is ready for harvest before the full heat of summer, otherwise you'll get the same problem you just experienced.
I know heat is bad for carrots, but this year I grew (and still have growing) Mini Kinko carrots. Our temps are consistently in the mid 90's during summer. These are actually edible and friends can't believe how good they taste, even in summer. I do mulch heavily with grass clippings.
The only problem I've had with these is if I let the soil get too dry before irrigating, once water is added, some of the carrots split.
Sounds like your grass clippings may be keeping the soil cool enough. It would interesting to try growing a few without the mulch to see if the flavour is still good or if you get a "turpentine" carrot.
Where did you get the seed for the mini Kinko carrot?
From Johnny's. Like a lot of their seeds, it had a few other kinds mixed in with it, but I still order from them.
I asked Territorial if they had that variety and they didn't. I'm trying three from them this fall and I'll see how they do when the heat hits next spring.
I planted Danvers half long and Nantes coreless, they were okay, but had a stronger flavor. I know that turpentine flavor you're talking about. What a shock to bite into a carrot expecting sweet crunchy goodness and get that yuckie taste.
Cody - I usually sow carrot seeds in the spring, but the slugs ate them this year, so I sowed more seed several weeks ago. I pulled a few little ones last week and had the same experience as yourself - even the dog wouldn't eat them - and she loves carrots!
Calalily - I've made a note of those mini Kinko carrots and will try them next year.
My problem in the heat is that even if they taste OK they bolt. We are finally getting some rain and cooler temps. I'm going to try them again. I got some last spring and they tasted great.
Lisa
Lisa, believe it or not, I haven't had a single carrot bolt. I kind of wanted some to. I wanted to see what the seeds would produce.
Calalily- Did you sow any other types of carrot seeds? I'm kind of stuck on Baker seed Co. but I should try some others
Lisa.
I also planted Danver's half long and a nantes coreless.
I'm trying several different ones this year. I ordered seeds from Territorial this time because Johnny's had terrible germination and some of the packs had oddball seeds in them.
Lisa - my carrots have never bolted either here in this furnace we call Phoenix. I bought all my carrot seeds from Botanical Interests and had pretty much 100% germination. They don't have the big selection some companies have, but they have excellent seeds!
Kelly
P.S. I grew Danvers, Royal Chatennay and Scarlett Nantes I think.
That's good to know. My kids just made me a "carrot box" today. Now all I have to do is fill it with soil. I'll look into the seed companies you have mentioned and try it again. The carrots I grew were really good I just harvested them before it got really hot.
Lisa
I had a nice surprise when I returned from my vacation yesterday -- there were lots of "volunteer" carrots growing all over the place - hopefully they will taste better than the ones I sowed during the hot weather.