THE CARROT

Wairarapa Times-Age, 6 October 1939, Page 3

THE CARROT

MOST IMPORTANT VEGETABLE.

The carrot is also a native of England and South Europe, and is a most important vegetable, being needed in the kitchen the whole year rotpid. Fortunately the crop is a hardy one, ana it is usually possible to keep over sufficient old roots until the young ones are available. Like the other root crops, carrots like a sandy loam, but they are also a success in peaty around. The earliest sowing is usually made in September, and a warm sheltered border should be selected, ine seed is sown in drills an inch deep and 12 inches apart, and as soon as the seedlings can be handled they arc thinned out to about two inches apart Further thinning can be done when tne roots are large enough to use. "tiynprooted varieties are Model, Early H°J n ’ and Champion Scarlet Horn, and fot the main crop James Intermediate and Scarlet Intermediate are sown in about a month’s time. The maincrop varieties can be kept for use during thewinter. but to get nice young tender toots a sowing of the stump-rooted varieties is sometimes made in the au tumn. Birds don’t trouble carrots, but aph do, and it is advisable to spray the plants’ with soapy water to which a little nicoticide has been added.