Interesting Carrot Varieties to Try
Growing carrots from seed are not too difficult, so why not try growing your own at home? They may be cheap to buy at the grocery store, but they will never taste as great as homegrown carrots.
Most carrots mature in 60-70 days. You can leave the carrots in the ground beyond the maturity date. This way, you can harvest them as needed.
Although most carrots require loose, deep soils to thrive, if you have heavy, clay, or even shallow soils, there are varieties, such as Royal Chantenay, that can tolerate it.
For more detailed growing information, please check out this page: How to grow carrots.
How to Store Carrots
Storing carrots is easy, and they can last a long time in storage.
- The first step is to remove the greens as they will draw moisture out of the carrots.
- Please do not wash the carrots until you are ready to use them.
- Seal carrots in an airtight bag. Carrots are best stored in a cool, dry and dark location.
- Do not store close to other fruit and potatoes.
Interestingly, over the course of 5 months, the levels of vitamin A can actually increase in carrots that are properly kept in storage. However, carrots’ overall nutritional value will slowly decline in the past three months of storage.
Recommended Carrot Varieties
Purchasing open-pollinated, organic seeds help support the natural, non-GMO industry. Most organic carrot seeds are old heirloom varieties. Heirloom varieties come in all sorts of shapes, sizes, and flavours. Although the standard colour for carrots is orange, they naturally occur in all kinds of colours, such as white, red, purple, and yellow.
Here are some excellent open-pollinated, heirloom carrot varieties:
- Royal Chantenay Carrots: A sweet-tasting carrot that grows from 12-16 cm long. It tolerates heavy clay soils. Matures within 70 days.
- Nantes Carrots: Brilliant orange, coreless, sweet and crisp carrots. Mature in 70 days.
- Rainbow Carrots: Rainbow carrots are simply a blend of different natural varieties. The mixture is white, red, purple, yellow and orange carrots.
Where to Buy Carrot Seeds
Canadian visitors can purchase heirloom carrot seeds here.
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