Carrot in a pipe

I've been experimenting the past two years with trying to grow large carrots. They are one of my favorite veggies, but despite 27 years of composting, this Ozark soil still seems to have more rocks in it than loam. Here is a picture of this year's results. The pipe is a 4" PVC schedule 40, non-pressure pipe about 14" long. A plastic 4" azalea pot fits snugly in the bottom and the pipe is filled with my regular greenhouse mix of peat, pearlite, and vermiculite. The carrots are Purple Dragon, a colorful variety that tastes quite good too. I germinated the seeds right in the pipe inside the house and transferred the pipes into the greenhouse in March. They have been outside since.

Here is the Purple Dragon carrot after washing off the soil. The roots actually went into the ground through the pot. These were planted in late February and several started to go to seed during the Summer., This one didn't and just kept growing. Last year I sunk the pipes into the ground about half way. Remembering to water them is a problem for me certainly helped this year following my retirement.

The last pictue is the cross section of the top end of the carrot. It's quite colorful. Despite being seven months old the taste was still ok (but not great). Has anyone else tried this method?

I haven't tried it but looks like a good way to get some early carrots.

Haven't done that with carrots but know that it is a great way to get nice, straight, horseradish roots!

Pretty fun to experiment, eh, Digi-Dave! Nice looking carrot!

Shoe.

I have some horseradish roots growing in a pipe, but haven't checked them out yet. I have heard of growing leeks that way for maximum white part.

Here's an interesting link that tells how to grow burdock root in a bale of hay. Maybe this would work for carrots as well:

http://www.horizonherbs.com/product.asp?specific=johrgpe8

I would think you would want to make sure to get good nutrients into the plant, and since there isn't alot of soil, regular addition of soil nutrients would probably be a good idea.

Nataraj