How to Harvest Carrots
If you are growing carrots you know how much patience and care they require! The seeds can take weeks to germinate and once they sprout they need consistent watering. But it’s all worth it when you get to harvest and freeze or dehydrate these beauties.Here's how to harvest your carrots.Bonus Video: Watch how to store your carrots and keep them crunchy!
Equipment
- 1 Garden Fork
Ingredients
- 1 row of Carrots
Instructions
- For the sweetest flavor, harvest carrots when they’re about 3/4 inch or 2 cm wide at the top.
In sandy, very light soil
- Grab onto the carrot greens, just at the top of the carrot and simply pull it out.
In heavy clay soil
- You definitely cannot simply pull them out of the ground- the carrots will snap.
- The best tool for the job is a garden fork that allows you to dig out the carrots. But be careful not to hit or scar the carrots with the tines of the forks.
- Place the fork about 6 inches away from the carrots and use it to loosen the soil all around the carrots. When the soil is loose, you should be able to pull out the carrots.
Video
Notes
Once you have your carrots out of the ground, remove as much dirt as you can, but DO NOT wash them!
Only wash them when you’re ready to use them so you don’t add moisture to the carrots. Moisture leads to mold and rot – it must be avoided at all costs when storing carrots for long periods.