While they may not get quite as many magazine covers as the tomato, or rule the current foodie scene, root vegetables are among the easiest- and tastiest- plants to grow in your backyard garden. Carrots, beets, and radishes are some of the most common choices. With good reason- they are hardy, can be planted outdoors in early spring and left until fall. They can be used in the kitchen for everything from soups to salads to afternoon snacks. In addition to better flavor, the selection available for growing at home is diverse, (Purple carrots! Black radishes!). More so than anything you’ll find in the produce section.
Prepping and Planting
Proper soil preparation is one of the keys to successfully growing root vegetables. Beds should be well-drained, free of stones, and tilled to a depth of at least 8-10 inches to allow roots to push down into the earth. Growing root crops in a raised bed is another way to make sure soil is loose and free of debris. Avoid using compost or well-rotted manure in your vegetable bed. It can have the undesirable effect of causing roots to branch out or “fork”. This leaves you with some funny looking two-legged carrots come harvest time.
Root vegetables are typically direct sown from seeds in the garden in early spring, 3-4 weeks before the date of the last frost. To ensure they have room to develop properly, crops should be thinned to a spacing of approximately 2-inches. Once they reach a small, edible size, (or about an inch or two tall), go ahead and pluck them out. Reward yourself with a diminutive, (but darling!), tray of crudités.
Carrots
Few things give me as much pleasure as pulling carrots, crumbs of dirt still clinging to their sides, from the veggie patch. Whether they’re classic orange, white, red, yellow, or purple; carrots are a quintessential component of the backyard garden. Carrots are an excellent source of anthocyanin, beta-carotene, and lycopene. They’re a fun crop to grow and harvest with children, or for those of us who just like to indulge our Beatrix Potter complex. When eaten fresh, carrots are a wonderful snack. They can be tossed into soups and stews, grated and used in salads, or baked goods, and even juiced. While they can be found in a number of sizes and shapes, carrots are grouped into five main categories: Danvers, Nantes, Chantenay, Imperator, and Ball (or Mini).
Danvers: Developed in Danvers, Massachusetts in the late 1800’s, the Danvers is what comes to mind when most of us think of carrots. Typically, flesh is orange, though other colors can be grown as well. They are long, (about 6-8 inches), and skinny with broad “shoulders” that taper to a pointed tip. Danvers carrots can be grown with some success in poor or heavy soils. They are excellent eaten fresh, and they hold up well when cooked.