Greetings, fellow gardeners and carrot tenders!

I am really happy to find out about this community. I have been waiting for something like it for a while. This Spring was the time when I started taking care of a garden that used to be tended by my grandparents. It's up to me and my brother to make something out of it now.

Honestly, we're mostly experimenting, for now. Trying some cultures out. Trying to figure out what would feel at home there and what would require too much attention. What I want to know the most is how close to a permacultural garden can we get.

Still, we're doing some maintainance. We bought seeds. I wrote about some of our endeavours during previous months. I also mentioned the "Carrot FIeld", a 2x2 square, actually.

It has paid out pretty well, so far.

I had some high hopes about our garlic but it...didn't grow much. Kind of small the heads were. But we took them out and they be fit for use, after all.

Too much trouble for too little they felt, although the trouble was not overmuch. It meant watering the plot a couple of times and taking out the weeds that grew around. From time to time.

I did the same for the carrots, but the results were...far better.

What turned out to be almost self-sufficient was also red beet. Almost no help fro mus there. But I'll get to it some other time.

Now, the carrots...let me start from the beginning...

What I did:

I spread some seeds;

I stomped upon the soil so that some dirt would cover the seeds and they won't become easy pickings for birds and ants.

I did respect the right of birds and ants to take their toll.

I watered the plot whenever I would visit which was a few times over the last four months.

I took out some of the grass...a couple of times...so that I can give the stems of the carrots some competitive advantage. And it seems it worked. Most of the yard is now filled with wild grass and thorns, some of the stems reaching human height. But not the Carrot Field. A few wild stems there but managable. The carrot stems cover most of that surface.

What I did not do:

I did not mix the seeds with sand so that they would become harder target and at the same time grow more separate from each other.

I did not use any chemicals this year. Nothing against grass, even. And it shows. Anyway, I am happy it still works.

I've taken out about 10-15% of the crops so far and there's plenty more to be rooted out. With pitchfork only.

And here be the beet, too, an addition to my favorite salad.

The pictures above kind of show you what I've been doing with what I already gathered.

But...

Any ideas about making my carrot experience better next year or preserving the yield longer this time...would be greatly appreciated!

Comment away, please, carrot lovers!

Yours,

Manol