Wooo-hoooo, we've got winter carrots! This was our first attempt at wintering them in the ground under straw, and it worked. I'm so tickled. And I've already got plans for a 'better' system next year. LOL
S.O. reports that they are spicy, not very sweet, much like this variety has been all along. Maybe beginning to get a little woody (based on eating one carrot). These are 'Nelson' hybrids, planted 8/7.
Great! I may have to try that... my stepfather didn't have a root cellar after he married my mom, so he'd pile his potatoes under fiberglass insulation in the detached garage when they went south for winter. Temps got down to zero or lower but his veggies always did just fine. Of course, that wouldn't work outside... the fiberglass would get soaked and freeze rather than insulate!
Next year I'm going to build a 1' tall cage out of PVC, covered with plastic that I can fill with straw. It hasn't been as cold as it can get here this year, and so the 4" has been enough. I'll be able to pin the cage down to keep it from blowing away (I hope). There's spring garlic and onions under this pile of straw, too. I'm not too hopeful about the onions, but I'm pretty sure the garlic will do fine.
This is also a raised bed lined with hardware cloth to prevent gophers from plundering things. Hope to build another one of these beds this coming year. And try potatoes!
Were they planted under the straw or were they stored there?
No, they weren't planted under the straw. But when the fall temps dropped to hard freeze zone, we piled straw on top of them, and covered it with builders plastic to keep the straw dry. With the high winds we get, the plastic was getting ripped off, so I threw a cattle panel on top to hold it down. That compresses the straw, which decreases its insulating qualities, so if it had gotten as cold as it usually gets here, I think these would have frozen by now. That is why next year I'm going to do the 'cage' so that the straw can stay fluff, fluff, fluffy! LOL
That's great Jay. Those carrots look really good.
Were they still growing in the ground when you put the straw on them?
Yes, the carrots were still growing. =0) Or in the process of going dormant... we just covered where they were planted, didn't disturb them at all.
I harvested some accidentals last March so I know it works, but good to see how it's really done -this year's batch are gone I think ;-)
All I have to say is, WOW!
That is a great way to store them if you have the room to let them stay in place.
