Harvesting and storing carrots - The Accidental Smallholder

Harvesting carrots

Carrots are usually easy to pull; if the ground is hard, use a fork to ease them out.

If you've sown successionally keep good records so you know when to expect the crop to be ready. Early varieties can be ready to lift as soon as 9 weeks after sowing, or earlier as baby carrots, and maincrop from 11 weeks.

In October, lift maincrop carrots for storing. Ease them up with a fork and remove surface soil.

Storing carrots

Cut off the leaves to ½” above the crown and store the roots in dry sand or dry spent compost in boxes. You can actually use any container to store carrots in - we use a dustbin and a tea chest for our maincrop and have used trugs and cool boxes.

Store only perfect carrots; use the rest in the kitchen. If you're looking for inspiration try these soup recipes where carrots feature heavily:

• Carrot & Parsnip Soup
• Lentil Soup
• Half the Garden Soup

Storing in sand is a simple process:

Step 1 - an inch of sand in the bottom, then arrange a layer of carrots.

Step 2 - cover with sand, and repeat.
Best done in situ, or make sure you can lift the full container!

The roots shouldn’t touch each other otherwise rot can spread throughout your stored crop.

Store in a dry place; inspect occasionally and discard any rotten roots. Properly stored, carrots should last through until March.