Garden Chat
By Jean Lundquist
Dangling the carrot Seed catalogs have me dreaming of spring, carrots
A
lot of what I know about gardening and seed varieties, I’ve learned from reading seed catalogs. Or, actually, from devouring them. Each winter, I buy seeds thinking I’ll be set for the next year and not have to buy any seeds at all. John Scheeper’s Kitchen Garden Seeds catalog tells me how long the seeds are viable. Most should be viable at least two seasons, and many for longer periods of time. Others are more delicate and won’t germinate after the year it is packed. That’s why, by federal law, each seed packet must be printed or stamped with the year it is first offered and packed . But one thing I had not gleaned from these information-packed catalogs is what the heck a Nantes type carrot is. Nantes is a city in France, but that doesn’t tell me what type of carrot I’m looking at. Another type of carrot is Chantenay. Again, Chantenay is a city in France. Early this year while I was devouring a catalog at the kitchen table on a very cold but sunny day, the heavens opened and departed carrot information to me. Since carrots are the second most popular vegetable grown across the globe after potatoes, I figured there might be some interest in this topic. Who doesn’t like a nice, crunchy carrot dipped in a little Schwarma Sauce? In the Minnesota River Valley, there are two general types of soil in our gardens, with little in between. I have heavy clay soil, and frankly, carrots don’t much like it. 36 • February 2013 • MANKATO MAGAZINE
The other type is a softer sandy soil that carrots can dig into, figuratively, if not literally. Nantes carrots are the same diameter from shoulder to end, with little if any tapering. They do well in tough soils like mine, and seldom fork. Though they are good at burrowing in, they do not turn tough, nor do their cores turn woody or pithy very easily. This is the type I like to grow. Also, because they are so uniform, if you can’t bear to thin them out to the recommended spacing, they aren’t likely to twine and grow around each other. A few years back I found the Mokum carrot, a Nantes type, and fell in love. For a while, it seemed to be available in every catalog I picked up. This year, I found it in only one. Now, I enjoy Mokum carrots enough to buy just that one item from a catalog, but I do so hate to spend more for shipping and handling than I spend for the seeds I’m buying. So I kept shopping. A carrot variety every catalog is touting as “new” this year is one called Yaya. Yaya is a Nantes type carrot, and is compared favorably to Mokum in carrot forums online. (Yes, I found carrot forums). In addition to being sweet, crunchy and not going woody or pithy, “Yaya” is said to be a sweet term for “Grandma” in
Greece. That definition made me feel warm on that winter’s day, and I pushed aside the catalog with Mokum carrots. I’ll let you know how Yaya and I get along this season. Chantenay type carrots also grow to a blunt end, but have broader shoulders and taper to the end. They also have a tendency to have their cores go woody or pithy if left in the ground too long. If you want to grow the long, slender carrots you find in the grocery store, you’d better be growing in sandy soil so the carrots don’t have to work too hard to grow to that length. They are Imperator types, and will fork and generally disappoint in heavy soils. Even in light soil, it must be well worked to the depth of 12 inches or more. If you really like carrots and are thinking of starting them indoors and transplanting them into your garden for an earlier crop, let me tell you that’s a bad idea. Carrots hate to be disturbed once they start growing, and will always repay you by giving you forked tubers. Plant them, and then leave them alone except to weed them. They are a loner among vegetables, and don’t appreciate attention like transplanting — lovingly intended or not. There is also a Danvers type carrot. It’s good in heavy soil, but perhaps not as crunchy. And there is a Planet type. These grow short and round, such as a
Thumbelina carrot. Enjoy your catalogs now, while the only gardening you can do is in your dreams. Then, happy carroting! M
Jean Lundquist is a master gardener who lives near Good Thunder.