Tuesday, 17 November 2020

17th November 2020 - Lockdown 2 - Day 13 - Purple Carrots

We received as a gift some "funky" vegetable seeds, one of which was some purple carrots. So, earlier this year they went in one of three tyre stacks in the allotment. We grow carrots in tyre stacks to protect them from carrot flies, these are insects that fly near the ground so by raising carrots up (or if this is not possible using some very small holed mesh) one can protect the crop. 

Carrots are included in the same rotation as parsnips, onions, leeks and garlic and this year the patch used is also home to some rather enthusiastic nasturtiums and marigolds which, once the onions are harvested, we allow to spread to act as a very insect and bee friendly ground cover. 

The carrots have recently been protected with straw to insulate the roots once the weather turns colder, but right now we've not yet had a frost here, which is unusual. 


And there you have them, purple carrots! Or rather, purple skinned carrots as they are the usual carrot colour on the inside - which I actually was a little disappointed in lol!

In case you are wondering, most of our parsnips are much bigger than the one shown but we only needed a little one for this meal as we had plenty of other ingredients including home grown potato, spinach beet and a few small sprouts. 



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