The Carrot Tops Allotment Blog!

Thanks to Clairesallotment’s Blog I was alerted to the fact that today is International Carrot Day – which I didn’t even know existed.

Seeing as the carrot makes an appearance in the title of this blog, how could I not do a post to celebrate the occasion.

Happy International Carrot Day everyone!

The International Carrot Day or the Carrot Day is marked every year on April 4th and has been since 2003! This is the one day where we can take stock and celebrate the humble carrot and all that it brings.

Growing carrots

Believe it or not – now’s the time that we can start sowing the seeds for our carrots for the year ahead and they’re so easy to grow too.

1. Weed and dig over a patch of ground, making sure that you remove any stones and debris to help with access to water and drainage
2. Set out string lines around 30cm apart, and create drills that around 1.5cm deep.
3. Sow the seeds evenly in the drills and then cover with soil. Keep watered over the next few weeks
4. As the carrots grow, thin them out by removing some of the seedlings, which allow all the bigger ones to grow even more.
5. To help keep carrot fly at bay, sow spring onions in between the rows of carrots
6. Once they’re big enough, pull them out of the ground.

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Varieties of carrot that I’ve grown

I’ve not grown many types of carrots over the years – putting together this post is a nice reminder that I should branch out more and see which type of carrots work best for different dishes.

Cooking with Carrots

Carrots are definitely a must have in the kitchen.

King carrot cake with Philadelphia cream cheese icing

This is a fantastic recipe for a carrot cake and icing that’s most probably the best icing in the work.

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Courgette, tomato and carrot soup

This soup is sweet and easy to make, highly recommended for when the weather is on the cold side.

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Using carrots as instruments

…As you do…

Further reading

Carrot day | History and nutrition

What are you doing to celebrate International Carrot Day? I’d love to know in the comments below 🙂