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Post by mnjrutherford on Apr 26, 2009 13:54:29 GMT -5
Darn. OK, well, I found some photos of the Oxhearts and your right castanea, they are not the same. Overwintered carrots are not tasty. Or at least the ones I tried were not. Possibly because they were starting to develop seed when I tried them?
If you are familiar with the Mountian View side of the bay, there is (or was) a nursery at the corner of San Antonio and Middlefield Road. We shopped there a lot and I recall one year seeing some seed that resembled those carrots. I can't recall the name but it was something like "Atlas", "Healthy", "SuperHealth",... something.... I didn't buy the seed at the time because it was outside the budget and I never saw them again. =o(
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Post by castanea on Apr 29, 2009 23:16:53 GMT -5
I am familiar with Mtn View and will check that place out the next time I'm down that way. I've been looking around though and here is another possibility for what those big carrots might be: Envy-size and look are very similar henryfields.com/product.asp?pn=70021&bhcd2=1241063991There are also a couple of European varieties that look a little similar but they are not widely available in the US. Autumn King aka Flakkee 2 is similar but not something that we would likely find in California. |
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Post by grunt on Apr 30, 2009 2:40:06 GMT -5
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Post by bunkie on Apr 30, 2009 7:46:56 GMT -5
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Post by castanea on Apr 30, 2009 19:34:51 GMT -5
We were discussing Oxheart on page 2. It's not Oxheart because Oxheart is too short.
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Post by canadamike on Apr 30, 2009 20:36:04 GMT -5
Oxheart, a french carrot, is originally known under ''carotte obtuse de Guérande'' or ''carotte de Guérande'' or ''carotte demi-courte obtuse de Guérande''.
It is a short, stubby but very juicy carrot, ideal for clay soils and delicious despite the size. In though clay, it can grow almost as large as long.
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Post by mnjrutherford on Apr 30, 2009 21:02:54 GMT -5
Hey Castanea! Thanks for checking out the markets. If it's easier to get to, the Hayward market on Saturday mornings was where I encountered them first. The ones at Henry Fields is a possibility from the description, what I'm baffled by is the NON uniformity that existed. Makes me wonder if it could be hugely dense clay? The family that I got them from farmed up near Petaluma/Santa Rosa. I'm not certain what kind of soil they had. In the Bay Area it was clay in Oakland, Hayward, and in Mtn View / Los Altos. And I do mean HEAVY clay!
Mike, Bunkie, and Grunt, these carrots were definitely not Oxheart. Tender, crisp, and infinitely sweet, but they were Frankenstein in appearance and MASSIVE. I'm chuckling at the moment because they could be the visual equivalent of the naughty word discussion under another thread. I could buy 1 carrot and use it for a couple meals. You could slice them and eat them like cookies. But it was ONLY the Phillipino farmers that had them.
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Post by castanea on May 2, 2009 15:38:26 GMT -5
I found some this week at a large Asian supermarket in south Sacramento. I could only find 3 that were in good shape so I bought those for planting (I bought a few more for juicing). I am hoping I can get them to flower this year and get seed. It's really late to be planting them, but luckily we continue to have cool wet weather.
The last time I found them was at Berkeley Bowl. I have found them in the past at the Berkeley Saturday farmers market and the Davis Saturday farmers market.
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Post by mnjrutherford on May 2, 2009 17:57:44 GMT -5
HOLY COW! The Berkeley Bowl?!?!  My mom used to shop there! That was one of the coolest grocery stores. I liked Swans in Oakland to. I'm excited you found them! I would bet dollars to peanuts they won't flower this year. BUT, If you plant them deep, with at least an inch of soil over the top (this assumes there is some greenery attached) and keep them nicely mulched through winter, I'll bet they will seed next year. The carrots I grew in Los Altos put up with some amazing things. One year, I had to move them 2 or 3 times through the year and yet they kept on going! Amazingly tough plants! I am SO glad you found them! Hey, is there any chance you could put up a photo? |
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Post by canadamike on May 2, 2009 21:31:38 GMT -5
They will flower this year mnj, as they are biennials. Their 2 year cycle ends this year.
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Post by mnjrutherford on May 3, 2009 13:15:45 GMT -5
Right, but I was under the impression that this is their first year?
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Post by castanea on May 9, 2009 23:58:36 GMT -5
HOLY COW! The Berkeley Bowl?!?! My mom used to shop there! That was one of the coolest grocery stores. I liked Swans in Oakland to. I'm excited you found them! I would bet dollars to peanuts they won't flower this year. BUT, If you plant them deep, with at least an inch of soil over the top (this assumes there is some greenery attached) and keep them nicely mulched through winter, I'll bet they will seed next year. The carrots I grew in Los Altos put up with some amazing things. One year, I had to move them 2 or 3 times through the year and yet they kept on going! Amazingly tough plants! I am SO glad you found them! Hey, is there any chance you could put up a photo? They're in the ground. I didn't even think about getting a photo, but I did measure them. The three were 13, 12 and 11 inches. |
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Post by mnjrutherford on May 10, 2009 10:06:04 GMT -5
WOW! Now that is a carrot! OK, so we will all wait patiently to hear how things progress? I dunno about the rest of the folks, but I think half my stuff grows just to keep me from annoying it with "Are you bigger yet?" ;o)
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Post by castanea on May 13, 2009 21:37:59 GMT -5
Two of the three have new green growth, so that's encouraging.
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Post by mnjrutherford on May 14, 2009 6:03:23 GMT -5
WAHOO! Yep, carrots are real weeds. Sort of the Timex watch of the vegetable kingdom, they take a lickin' and keep on tickin'. Yesterday I thinned our carrots. The ones I pulled out that had nice roots I poked a hole in the dirt as long as the root and replanted them. They need some water this morning and they will do fine as wine. They really are amazing.
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My mom used to shop there! That was one of the coolest grocery stores. I liked Swans in Oakland to.