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Showing posts with the label How long do carrots take to grow

The Humble Carrot

  The humble carrot is a great example of how a single species can express itself in many different ways. The humble carrot is a great example of how a single species can express itself in many different ways. The wild species from the Middle East from which carrot is derived is barely more of a root than a parsley plant and like many modern vegetables started as a medicinal herb. The oldest barely domesticated forms show increasing root size and a wider variety of colours, including white, yellow, orange, red, purple and black. As the crop was taken outward to Europe and Asia its diversity of forms increased, with roots the size of a man’s arm to tiny round shapes. The final push toward industrial salad types saw plants with rapid growth and high fertiliser response under perfect conditions (regular watering and perfect sandy soil) allowing crops of tender and mild tasting roots suitable for munching straight from the bag to be churned out year round. For a long time I suspected thi

Carrot Farming Information

Carrots are vegetables which are eaten raw or cooked. It is an emerging high value crop; very rich in vitamin A which is what gives it the characteristic bright colour and sweetness good to be used in some fruit-like roles. When grated, they can be used in cakes, carrot puddings, blended in jams and other fruits. It has a demand in both small scale use and processors like canneries and dehydration firms. Ecological Requirements ·    Carrots do well in cool to warm areas. The roots are very sensitive to high soil temperatures. ·     Deep, loose loam soils which should be well drained and with a pH of 6 to 6.5. Poor drained soil encourages prevalence of bacterial diseases. Heavy clay soils give low quality, malformed and twisted carrots. ·        Altitude of 500m above sea level. Varieties Carrot varieties can be categorized into two fresh market and processing (canning) varieties. The common varieties are Nantes , Super Kuroda, Oxhart and ​ Chantney ​ . Planting Carrots are usually s