Organic Carrot: Yellowstone

Description

Organic Carrot: Yellowstone. Daucus carota.

Yellowstone was developed for commercial production and is easy to grow. With a long sowing season, yellowstone has a beautiful yellow colour. It is versatile and can be pulled for selling in bunches. It is also really good for storing over winter.

How to grow:

Yellowstone can be sown successionally outside over a long period – starting at the end of February right through to the end of June. Harvesting from the beginning of August through to November.
Your seed bed needs to have a fine tilth, the seedlings won’t do well pushing past stones. Sow thinly and shallowly, 0.5cms into light loamy soil, free of stones and not recently manured.

If you’re saving seeds of Yellowstone remember to grow them in isolation from other carrots (including wild carrots) because otherwise they will interbreed. Grow either under cover or isolated by around 3 miles distance from other carrots.

Problem solving:

Slugs and weeds go hand in hand, slugs eat both leaves and roots and carrots grow poorly in competition with weeds.
Carrot root fly: Flies twice a year, early May and September. If you’re successionally planting you can still avoid the root fly. Smell seems to play a part in them finding your carrots. We plant our onions and leeks beside our carrots and this seems to help, also the adults fly about 90cms above the ground, put up netting like the green windbreak around the crop helps keep them off.

Favourite ways to eat them:

These colourful roots are full of flavour, vitamins and minerals. The leaves are also great in salads and stews.

Cultural history:

The crop wild relative of this plant is native to Ireland, Daucus carota. It’s woody tap root won’t be tasty at all, it’s taken plant breeders over 1,000’s of years to bring us the carrots we have today.

Approx 310 seeds per 0.5g packet. (Approx. 620 seeds per gram).