Spinach, beets, carrots, and arugula

I planted all of these (spinach, beets, carrots, and arugula) early in the week, just before the temperatures dipped again.  But it'll be warming up over the weekend, and it's time to sow seeds, even if it's a bit colder than "normal" -- whatever that passes for now.

I'm going to soak some sugar snap peas overnight, and sow them tomorrow, along with a variety of lettuce seeds, kales, and collards.

It's time.  It's late February.  Even with the extremes of a changing climate, gardeners will keep planting.  And even though it's a bit harder to predict which of the cool-season veggies might do the best this spring, I'll just plant a variety of things, and see.

This has been the third winter that I haven't had greens like kale, mustard, or arugula overwinter (the extreme lows took them out).  I wasn't using any season extension, which would have made a difference, I'm sure.

incredibly tasty and succulent carrots, although not impressive-looking!

In a program today, I was talking about how well a specific sort of carrot (Pusa Rudhira Red Carrot)
had done in my fall vegetable garden.  These were bred for the hotter, drier conditions of India, and absolutely flourished last fall.  I sowed them in August and harvested them in in November not expecting anything. Amazing.

A search of previous blog posts about carrots was interesting, too.  I've had reasonable success with shorter, small varieties like Thumbelina - and enjoyed them as well, apparently!

Lovely fall carrots

A harvest sample

I'd bought some carrot seeds in late summer from a "seed collector" - an eclectic fellow who had obtained these seeds from a source in India, bred traditionally by a researcher looking for heat tolerance.  The seed collector was mentioned in Organic Gardening magazine (now Organic Living). His business is called The Rare Vegetable Seed Consortium.

I had acquired purple and deep orange varieties, sowed them late, without much anticipation of anything, as we were traveling in late September and October, so not around to water.

But much to my surprise, my harvest (prompted by the late 20° F overnight temperatures) yielded a small bunch of totally delicious purple and orange carrots.  They were good both fresh and roasted.  Encouraging, to be sure.

Carrots are NOT an easy vegetable to grow in the Southern US!

The best looking one!

P.S.
I see that Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds has picked them up from the original collector, who introduced them here.  Good news for keeping these great varieties alive.  I bought them from the collector's small company, but Baker Creek is "mainstream" now.  This is a good thing as these are a delicious and productive variety that needs wider distribution.