Not much is going on in the garden here at Polyface. A little bit of pruning, planting fruit trees, mulching, and lots of planning for when and where to plant things starting next month!
In one of my garden beds, protected under a thick layer of straw are some of the most delicious carrots you will ever taste! When the carrots go through the frost they turn really sweet and sugary.
I had planted the carrots back in September and then before the weather was cold enough to freeze the ground I covered them with a thick (8″-10″) layer of oat straw. What fun to go outside when it is cold and pull up fresh carrots!
Yum!
What I wouldn’t give to have a book of your methods..
Leanna,
Looks good. We are going to put up a hoop house this next year and follow the Polyface program of growing in the hoop house. We’ll be out to see you sometime this next week or two….Glenn Holloway, Go Farm U
Wow, that’s cool! Can you do that in any climate or is there a point at which it gets too cold? I am pretty sure the ground here is and has been frozen – I wonder if anything could even be pulled out of the ground because it feels like a rock. Maybe the straw would prevent it from doing so. Do you know if it works north of you?
Nice picture – harvesting carrots in February, can’t beat that. The ground isn’t frozen here, but our heavy clay tends to get far too waterlogged for carrots to be harvestable by this time of year – they’re usually rotting in the ground. I totally agree about frost improving the sweetness of carrots – it does the same for parsnips.