When to Harvest Carrots and How to Store Them

Shoulder diameter and days from sowing

You cannot see a carrot, so you have two pieces of evidence: the diameter of the shoulder above the soil, and the days since sowing. A shoulder of one and a half to two inches (4 to 5 cm) means a long variety has reached a usable size. Whether the tip has filled, only lifting will tell you.

Days alone are unreliable because heat and cold move growth by weeks. Ignoring days entirely is equally unreliable: a root can look fat at the shoulder and still be thin at the tip. Use both, then confirm with a test pull.

Varieties differ, so use the days to harvest on the packet if it gives one. The shoulder diameter works as a common measure whatever the variety.

Pull one and look

Before you lift a whole row, pull one and check. A fat shoulder over a thin tip, or a root that forked halfway down, is invisible from above. That one root tells you what to do with the whole bed.

1. Take one from the middle of the bed Plants at the ends grew in different conditions. Choose an average sized plant from the middle. Pulling the biggest makes you overestimate the bed and lift thin roots with the rest.
2. Look at the tip A rounded, filled tip means it has finished. Still thin and pointed means another week or two will fill it. The same shoulder size can mean two different things.
3. Cut it lengthways A thick pale core means it is either young or has had too much nitrogen. An even deep orange all through means it is ready.
4. Set the plan If it has filled, start lifting through that week. If not, check again in a fortnight. Lift what you need rather than the whole bed.

Record the test pull result with the sowing date and next year you will not have to guess when to check.

Lifting without breaking them

In dry, compacted soil the tops tear off and leave the root behind. Water lightly the day before, or loosen the soil with a fork pushed in away from the row before pulling.

1. Grip the leaf stalks low Holding the leaf tips tears them. Gather the stalks close to the soil and pull straight up.
2. Rock before you pull Rock the plant gently back and forth to loosen the soil around the root first. The fatter the root, the more it matters not to yank.
3. Dig out anything that snaps If the root breaks underground, dig it out with a trowel. Left behind it rots and becomes a source of disease and nematodes for the next crop.
4. Cut the tops off straight away Leaves left on draw water out of the root and it goes limp within days. Take the tops off in the garden and carry the roots home.

The tops are edible while they are young and soft. If you want to use them, cook them the day you lift.

What happens if you leave them

A root left past its point develops a hard skin, and then rain splits it lengthways. A split root will not keep and rots from the cut. Left longer still the core goes woody and the texture is lost.

The cost of delay is highest with a spring crop, where a wet spell can split them overnight. A winter crop holds much longer because growth stops in the cold, but once it warms in late winter the plants bolt and the core goes woody.

How long you can leave them in the ground depends entirely on the season. Lift a spring crop as soon as it is ready, and finish a winter crop before it warms up again.

In winter, the ground is the best store

For an autumn and winter crop, leaving the roots in the ground and lifting what you need keeps them in better condition than anything you can do indoors. Cold soil is humid and stable, which is a better environment than a domestic fridge. Where the ground freezes solid, lift them instead.

Roots left in cold soil get sweeter, because the plant converts starch to sugar to protect itself from freezing. That is why winter carrots taste better, and it is a reason not to rush to lift them all.

1. Cut the tops and cover Before hard frost, cut the tops at soil level and cover the roots with four inches (10 cm) or more of soil. A frozen shoulder blackens when it thaws, so it must not be exposed.
2. Add straw or husks A layer of straw over the soil adds insulation. Put a marker stake at the end so you can still find the row.
3. In cold gardens, lift and store Where the ground freezes, lift everything before winter, cut the tops, and pack the roots in damp sand or husks in a box somewhere frost free.
4. Finish before it warms They start to bolt as the temperature rises. Lift the last of them in late winter and refrigerate or process what is left.

Storing lifted carrots

Carrots suffer from both wet and dry: left wet they rot, left bare they go limp. Brush the soil off rather than washing, let them dry, then wrap them. Washed carrots spoil faster, so use those first. In a fridge they keep better standing upright, the way they grew.

Cutting the tops off on the day you lift is the single most useful thing you can do. Left on for a day the root loses its firmness.