What you do is save some carrots from the previous harvest year. I stored mine in a plastic grocery bag that I loosely tied shut so they would still get some air. You don't want it completely sealed or they might rot. You keep them in a cool place - I kept mine in the extra fridge downstairs. This is what they looked like this spring.
I dug a trench at the end of a flower-saving garden in the back yard.
I stuck the carrots in the trench.
Then I covered them up to the top of the carrot.
The carrot blossoms are supposed to be a bee magnet. We will see what happens as summer progresses and keep you informed.
I've been doing this for a couple of years now, but I add a few sheets of paper towel to the bottom of the plastic bag to absorb some of the moisture. I didn't harvest the seed quickly enough last year and have a healthy patch of very nice carrots already. Another thing I do is to use different size sieves to separate the largest seed. My freshly saved largest seeds only take a week to germinate and seem to be producing much larger, healthier carrots every year. Good luck with yours!
ReplyDeleteLOL! I have a similar patch of spinach. Great idea with the sieves and using the largest seed! Thanks!
DeleteGardening When It Counts by Steve Solomon has all kinds of need tips for our kind of gardening conditions and a very interesting section on seed saving. There's lots of good information about growing in drought conditions. I saw your lovely spinach! I'll be planting mine in the Fall so it's as nice as yours! We were just out admiring our reseeded lettuce and mustard! We're certainly enjoying the cooler weather as is the garden!
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