Garden to Kitchen
Nothing tastes better than growing your own fruit, vegetables and herbs. Our Main Gardener, Ben will be sharing his tips and tricks to growing your own produce at home, whether this is in your garden, allotment or a window box.
Carrots:
Everybody loves carrots. Thinly sliced through a salad, part of a soup or roasted with a drizzle of honey, they are a welcome addition to many dishes, and nothing tastes better than the sweet crunch of a home grown one!
What & When?
There are two types of carrot to choose from, early varieties and late varieties.
The early ones are sown in spring and ready to pick roughly ten weeks later, the late ones can be sown from the end of spring and are ready to harvest in about 14-16 weeks.
The best time sowing carrots is late March to June, however, earlier and later seeds can be sown as long as you protect them with fleece.
How?
The secret to growing great carrots is soil condition. They love light, well drained yet moisture retaining soil.
Use a fork to break up any clumps of soil and remove stones. Add some well rotted organic matter and this will help you grow the best crop you could want!
Sow your carrot seeds directly into the ground in seed drills (trenches) roughly 1cm deep.
Thinly spread the seeds in the drills (making sure the drills are at least 5cm apart) and cover them with soil. Give them a light sprinkle with water and let them do their thing!
Keep the drills weeded and water them if it's particularly dry weather.
Harvesting tip: make sure the ground is wet before you lift your carrots. This will help in preventing them from breaking while you remove them from the soil.
Our Favourite Dish
We LOVE honey roasted carrots with a Sunday roast.
Give them a wash, then top, tail and cut them in half. Lay them on a baking try and drizzle with oil, then add a little salt and pepper.
Cook them at 200 degrees in the oven for 30 minutes. (Depending on the size of your carrots reduce the cooking time accordingly)
As they come out of the oven, drizzle them with honey and gently turn before serving. Beautiful!