The Garden Chronicles - Final Harvest

The last of the garden crops included a short row of Bibb lettuce and the remainder of the carrots.  The deer ate the lettuce and I wanted to leave the carrots in as long as possible to sweeten-up a bit.  

Leaving your carrots in the earth until after the first frosts of autumn does allow the sugars to translocate to the root.  As a matter-of-fact avid gardeners will mulch their carrots with a thick layer of straw and dig them-up on as as-needed basis throughout the winter months.  I attempted that once.  It didn't work.  The carrots froze solid.  I am a dedicated gardener but not that avid. In any event the more brazen of whitetails have been paying a nocturnal visit and have begun to nibble on the leafy green carrot tops.  I also know from experience that they'll figure out how to extricate as much of the really tasty root before too long.   

I week ago I attempted to get a fork in the earth to uproot the carrots but the cold snap would have nothing to do with it.  The ground was frozen.

With the recent moderate temperatures and today's spring-like temperature of 62 degrees the pitch fork effortlessly uprooted my carrots without snapping-off a single one.  Easy peasy.


And they're as sweet as can be.  The dogs certainly approve as they dined on some of them too. 

It's official.  End of November.  Final harvest.