…with lots of fog and rain. Somewhat unusual for January. But today, winter was back to work, just like most of us after the holidays.
Among other things, I grew carrots last summer, and left some of them in the ground covered with an extra layer of dirt. It seemed like a good place to store them as long as I could still dig them up before the ground froze. We had a fairly mild December, and even with the blizzard last week the temperatures were still pretty moderate. My carrots were well insulated under their snowy blanket. The forecast this week is for much colder weather. Today was my last chance for a first time experience: harvesting carrots in January.
The top inch of soil was already frozen, so I was not a moment too soon in my efforts.
3 pounds of organic carrots, fresh picked from my front yard on January 3. You can’t get food more local than that. They taste pretty darn good too!
Barbara S Fernald Jewelry 
Those carrots are beauties. My family did the similar with parsnips in winter. A whole row was left in the ground and covered with straw. The straw would keep the soil from freezing and each week a few of the parsnips were dug. Somehow, I think that extra chilling made them taste better because I’ve never had a store bought parsnip that was as good.
LikeLike
LeAnn! Happy New Year!
I did that once with parsnips and they really kept all winter. Next year I’ll try straw over the carrots and see how long they will go before the ground freezes. Though, we’ve had really cold weather and frozen ground before in November. This was a happy experiment.
LikeLike
Wow! They are gorgeous!!!
LikeLike
Thanks Susan. Any container gardening for you on the deck? You could put a nice little cold frame out there…maybe…
LikeLike
WOW is right…i’m so NOT a farmer, tho i long to be! i didn’t know you could just leave them in the ground!!!
LikeLike
I didn’t either, But I figured it was worth a try since the ground hadn’t frozen yet. It worked!
LikeLike