Vegetable Gardening (32 page)

A simple test for maturity is to push the eggplant's skin with your fingernail. If the skin bounces back, the fruits are ready to harvest. If your nail indents the skin, the fruits are overmature. If your fruits are really mature and rotting on the vine, just pick them and throw them out; they won't taste very good.

The key to harvesting is to do it often. The more often you harvest, the more peppers and eggplants you get. To harvest, cut peppers and eggplants with a sharp knife just above the top of the green cap on the fruit. The fruits will continue to ripen after you harvest them, so store them in a cool place. If you want to dry your peppers, pick them when they mature and hang them to dry in a warm room with good air circulation. See Chapter 19 for more tips on preserving your harvest.

Harvesting hot peppers and eggplants can be tricky, so use gloves when harvesting them. Hot peppers need careful handling because they contain capsaicin, which can easily cause burning, especially in your eyes or in open cuts. (Believe it or not, I've known of gardeners having to go to the hospital to be treated for burns from hot peppers.) Some eggplant varieties have sharp spines on their stems, so be sure to work around them when harvesting the fruits. Or consider growing spineless varieties such as ‘Fairytale' and ‘Hansel'.

Chapter 6: Growing Underground Crops: Carrots, Onions, and Potatoes

In This Chapter

Choosing the best carrot, onion, and potato varieties for your garden

Growing, caring for, and harvesting your roots

Controlling root pests and diseases

Root-crop vegetables are an example of those good things in life that you can't actually see. Their tops are green, unassuming, and may even be mistaken for weeds — but oh, when you give them a yank! I can still remember the look on my daughter's face when she first helped me dig potatoes and discovered that they grow underground. Digging for potatoes was like a treasure hunt. I think that most gardeners feel that same sense of wonder and excitement when they dig or pull up their root crops. The result is always something marvelous.

You can grow many different root crops, but the big three are carrots, onions, and potatoes. They aren't botanically related like peppers, eggplants, and tomatoes are (see Chapters 4 and 5); what these crops do have in common, however, is that they're grown for their underground parts: roots, bulbs, or
modified stems
(underground stems that expand to produce large, edible areas; potatoes' stems are called
tubers
). I provide plenty of growing tips for carrots, onions, and potatoes in this chapter; I discuss other root crops in Chapter 11.

A Rabbit's (and Gardener's) Favorite Root: Carrots

Carrot (
Daucus carota
) varieties are categorized by their shape. You can grow long, thin carrots; short, stocky carrots; and even little, round, baby carrots. A few varieties are supercharged with vitamins, and many hybrids have added vigor and disease resistance. The latest trend in carrots is colorful roots. Roots no longer come in just orange — now you can grow varieties that are white, yellow, red, and purple, too!

If you're trying to decide which carrot variety to grow, consider your type of soil as well as the use you plan for the carrots. Loose, sandy soil is good for growing any root crop. If you have heavy, clay soil, consider a variety that's shorter in length, such as ‘Short 'n Sweet'. It's easier for this short carrot variety to push into the heavy soil than a long, thin, tapered root variety. (Chapter 14 has more information about soil types.)

Classifying carrots by type

Carrots often are described as a certain type, such as baby carrots. If the carrot type is part of a variety name, you can determine what the carrot will look like when it matures. Table 6-1 shows the common types of carrots and their characteristics. All the types listed, except baby carrots and Imperators, range in size from 6 to 8 inches. Aside from eating the carrots fresh, you can best use certain varieties for juicing and storing; some even grow well in containers.

Most short varieties that you find in grocery stores are baby carrots, and the longer carrots may be any of the other types mentioned in Table 6-1. The bagged "baby-size" carrots in grocery stores are often just normal-sized

carrots peeled down to a small, rounded size. Look for carrots with the tops still showing for true baby carrots. Baby carrots may be varieties that are naturally short or larger varieties harvested at an immature stage.

Examining some carrot varieties

Knowing what type of carrot a certain variety is can help you when deciding which variety to grow. With some of the most widely known carrot varieties, you can easily identify the carrot type because it's part of the variety's name; some examples include ‘Scarlet Nantes' and ‘Danvers 126'. Otherwise, you simply read the description to find out.

The carrot varieties in the following list fall into one of the five types of carrots identified in Table 6-1, but they also have special characteristics that may make them perfect for your garden; they're flavorful, disease resistant, and easy to grow. All are good for baking. The days to maturity are from seeding in the ground until first harvest; however, early season carrot varieties are flavorful even when you harvest them before they fully mature:

‘Atomic Red':
This Imperator-type, open-pollinated carrot features 9-inch-long roots that are red from skin to core. The color deepens and flavor becomes milder when cooked. This variety matures in 70 days.

‘Bolero':
This hybrid, Nantes-type carrot produces 6-inch-long roots and 8135*has extra disease resistance and stores well. It matures in 72 days. ‘Yaya' is a newer hybrid Dutch variety that's sweeter and matures earlier (60 days) than ‘Bolero'.

‘Danvers 126':
These heat-resistant, open-pollinated roots produce heavy yields of 7- to 8-inch-long carrots 70 days after planting.

‘Healthmaster':
This hybrid, Danvers-type variety grows up to 10 inches long and contains 30 percent more vitamin A than other carrot varieties. It matures in 110 days.

‘Kuroda':
This hybrid, 6-inch-long, Chantenay-type produces heavy yields of tender carrots that are good for juicing and storing. It matures in 79 days.