Celebrating International Carrot Day

“If you truly get in touch with a piece of carrot, you get in touch with the soil, the rain, the sunshine. You get in touch with Mother Earth; and eating in such a way, you feel in touch with true life.” ~ Thich Nhat Hanh

With the spring equinox behind us and patches of dry grass re-emerging from under the snow, gardening season is getting closer every day. Soon the ground will thaw, new green shoots will appear and garden centres around town will open their doors once again. We’re moving towards the light and warmth again, the days already so much longer, with a pleasant quickening in the air. As northerners, we know that another snowfall (or two) is probably still in our future, but it’s hard to resist the urge to dream about what lies ahead.
In 2003, April 4 became known as International Carrot Day, and it seems like a well-timed reminder to go out and buy a packet of carrot seeds and set aside a part of your garden for a few rows of these tasty and versatile root vegetables. Something so simple can bring so much joy a couple of months down the line. There’s nothing that comes close to the earthy sweetness and satisfying crunch of biting into a homegrown carrot, freshly pulled from the soil.
It’s believed that the ancestor of the modern carrot came from the area around what is now Afghanistan and Iran, and was first cultivated for its leaves and seeds instead of its roots. The orange variety that we’re familiar with today was created by Dutch growers but, in fact, you can still find carrots in a whole rainbow of colours, from red to yellow to white and even purple. Today’s world production of commercial carrots comes mainly from China (produces 44 per cent of the world’s total), Uzbekistan and the United States (80 to 90 per cent is grown in California where they can grow all year-round), but nothing compares to being able to grow and harvest your own. The beautiful thing about carrots is that they’re beloved by young and old, and they’re relatively easy to grow if you pay attention to a few simple things.

Growing them

• Sow the tiny seeds shallow, once the ground has warmed up a bit and is workable. Cover them with a fine layer of soil and keep them moist during the germination process and until they’re well established. Water gently to avoid the seeds from moving together and clumping. If the weather is sunny and warm, water them every day. You may even want to cover the soil with something like a garden fleece, to prevent it from drying out too quickly. As the carrots get bigger and longer they will become more drought tolerant.
• Carrots prefer things on the cooler side, which is good news for us here in the Yukon. Sow the seeds directly, since carrots don’t transplant well. Seeding them in rows will make it easier to weed. They can be a bit slow to germinate depending on the weather (be patient).
• Some gardeners speed up the germination process by soaking the seeds in a hydrogen-peroxide and water solution for about 15 minutes (you can find more information about this online).
• If you find the tiny size of the seeds to be frustrating to deal with, buying seed tape (seeds that are stuck onto a biodegradable material that will rot away and just leave the evenly spaced seeds) or pelleted seeds (seeds coated with an inert clay to make them easier to see and handle) can make it easier to sow the seeds with even spaces between them. Normal seed is generally the least-expensive option, and pelleted seeds may have a shorter shelf life. If you’d like to try making your own seed tape, there are several tutorials on YouTube.
• Other solutions to the spacing issue include sowing radishes between the carrots. Radishes grow quickly and, as they become ready to eat, you can pull them out, which leaves space for the remaining carrots to continue growing. You could also try mixing the carrot seeds with a bit of sand, which should allow the seeds to be spaced a bit farther apart, as well.
• In terms of companion plants, carrots grow well alongside most other vegetables, including beans, Brassicas, chives, leeks, lettuce, onions, peas, peppers, pole beans, radish, rosemary, sage and tomatoes. Avoid planting them with dill, parsnips and potatoes. Planting carrots near alliums, such as garlic, onions and chives, can help deter pests like carrot flies, although, luckily, they don’t seem to be much of a problem here in the North. It’s said that carrots planted near tomatoes may have stunted roots but will have exceptional flavour (westcoastseeds.com/blogs/wcs-academy/companion-planting).
• Remember to thin your carrots, as time goes by, so they have space to grow as large as you would like them, which will prevent their growth from being stunted. If you thin them when they’re already a bit bigger, you can use the small ones in salads or you can roast them in the oven.
• If you don’t have a large garden space, you can also try growing carrots in containers. Be sure to use a deep-enough pot and to water them regularly.
• Pick up seeds at any of the garden centres around town or order heirloom and organic varieties online from seed companies such as West Coast Seeds (westcoastseeds.com).
• Carrots can also be sown in the late fall before the first snow. If you’re lucky, you’ll have carrots several weeks earlier than usual. Be sure to mark where you sowed them, and be patient.

Harvesting and storing them

• During the course of the summer you may be able to see the top of the carrot roots getting bigger, and that’s a good indicator that you can start pulling some of the larger ones out to eat and leave the smaller ones to continue growing.
• They’re easiest to pull out if the soil is a bit moist. Pulling carrots from dry and hard soil may cause you to break them, leaving half of the carrot still in the ground. You can also try using a pitch fork to loosen the soil a bit.
• In milder climates, carrots can be left in the ground all winter long, but in the Yukon you should harvest carrots well before the ground freezes.
• Remove the foliage so they don’t continue pushing energy into their greens, and then gently wash the roots.
• The fresher you eat your carrots, the sweeter they will likely be. But you can also store them for quite a long time. Once washed and separated from the green tops, you can store your carrots in plastic bags in the fridge, cut them up and blanch them to freeze for later use, or you can even store them in sand or soil for up to six months or longer. Friends have had great success with layering carrots in fairly dry, fine sand, in a five-gallon plastic bucket, covering them with two to three inches of additional sand, on top, and then storing them in a cool (not freezing), dark place.
• Carrots are actually a biennial plant. If grown in a warmer climate where they can survive the winter, they produce lovely white flower clusters in the second year, which then turn into seeds. Certain factors may cause carrots to bolt and flower in their first year but, generally speaking, saving carrot seeds in the Yukon isn’t very likely.
  

Ways to enjoy them

• Carrots are highly nutritious and are a particularly good source of vitamin A, antioxidants, fibre, potassium and vitamins C and K. They can help improve your vision, reduce the risk of cancer, enhance digestive health, help control diabetes, support the immune system and increase collagen production. (medicalnewstoday.com/articles/270191#nutrition).
• Homegrown carrots don’t really need to be peeled; this way you can enjoy the high vitamin content in their skin as well. I like them best fresh from the garden, just rinsed off quickly in the rainwater barrel or under the garden hose, with the smell of wet earth still lingering.
• Although carrots aren’t part of the “Dirty Dozen” (a list of twelve fruits and vegetables with the highest pesticide residues), commercially grown carrots are still treated with herbicides and pesticides, especially for weed control (whatsonmyfood.org/food.jsp?food=CR). Growing your own lets you enjoy the healthiest possible version of this delicious taproot.
• Grate carrots raw into salads, purée them into a creamy soup, make them into carrot bread and moist carrot cake, or add them to stir-fries and stews. The possibilities are virtually endless. If you have an exceptionally large crop, you can even make them into juice (although, if you regularly drink a lot of carrot juice, you may notice your skin turning a bit orange from all of the beta carotene).
• Cooking carrots allows its beta-carotene content to be easier for the human body to absorb, but chewing on a raw carrot can act as a natural toothbrush for adults, young children and even dogs.
• Save the carrot tops and use them in salads, soups, pesto, or even in place of parsley in many recipes.
  

Carrots have accompanied humanity for thousands of years; wild seeds have been found in archeological sites in Switzerland and Southern Germany, dating back to 2000–3000 CE. They’ve added colour and nourishing sustenance to our lives for so long, and it’s time to give this loyal vegetable its well-deserved credit. As Paul Cézanne once said, “The day is coming when a single carrot, freshly observed, will set off a revolution.”