Take That, Carrot Rust Fly!
When I went to de-blight the tomatoes at the community garden plot this morning, I noticed a carrot top & greens of what was most likely one of my prized multicoloured carrots (pulled and eaten by a yet another vegetable thief) which made me think, “Hey, my carrots are ready!” While the greens sure didn’t look like much, I decided to pull them anyway and to my delight, beautiful red, purple, white, and orange carrot with no sign of carrot rust fly damage. Booya!
Back in April I pulled up my winter carrots and sadly, I lost the battle to that wily carrot rust fly. This year I planted a summer crop, planted each seed individually spaced (painstakingly), mixed lots of sand in the soil and watered well. Oh, and the most important thing: full sun. My home garden is so crowded and lush that there just isn’t the sun there is at my new garden plot. This, I’ve noticed, had made all the difference in the world to my vegetable gardening. 6-8 hours of direct sun just isn’t enough.
So here they are, some lovely purple carrot sticks, without a rusty track to be seen. Take that, carrot rust fly.
Me: 1 ; Carrot Rust Fly: 1
Tags: carrot, carrot rust fly, community garden
August 14 2010 04:55 pm | Community Garden and Growing Food and Harvest
Aaerelon (Aerelon Ablenas) on 14 Aug 2010 at 5:18 pm #
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RT @Garden_Therapy: Take That, Carrot Rust Fly! [link to post] Booya!
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Garden_Therapy (Stevie) on 14 Aug 2010 at 6:00 pm #
Twitter Comment
Take That, Carrot Rust Fly! [link to post] Booya!
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meemsnyc on 14 Aug 2010 at 7:06 pm #
Ooooh, those are gorgeous carrots! Really pretty.
Kat on 14 Aug 2010 at 7:35 pm #
So pretty. Don’t you love outsmarting the pests? I always feel so proud of myself when I do.
Linda on 14 Aug 2010 at 8:46 pm #
Good on ye! I’ve never seen what purple carrots look like inside and now I know. Those carrots look delectable.
Steph - The Green Grower on 15 Aug 2010 at 3:55 am #
they look scrummy! glad to hear you foiled the pests! enjoy :)
Stevie on 15 Aug 2010 at 8:45 am #
thanks everyone!
melanie watts on 17 Aug 2010 at 7:53 am #
These look great Stevie. what variety are they? I’m glad you managed to defeat the dreaded carrot rust fly.
Deb W. on 17 Aug 2010 at 9:39 am #
Hi Stevie, Don’t remember where I read it, probably Organic Gardening ‘way back when, but they suggested a sprinkling of wood ash after planting carrots, something about the soil pH (I think) and discouraging root . Also companion planting with onions as their smell was beneficial in confusing pests.
Those are gorgeous carrots. Do they keep their colour after cooking? Man, I can almost taste them. Mmmm!
Stevie on 17 Aug 2010 at 10:00 am #
Thanks, Deb, for the great suggestions. I’ll keep on the lookout for wood ash, but I did plant them with onions and parsley but the rust fly sniffed those carrots through my companion plants.
Oh, and yep – they keep their colour when cooking unlike beans.
Stevie on 17 Aug 2010 at 10:03 am #
Melanie, I bought the pack of mixed seeds from West Coast Seeds called Rainbow Blend – http://www.westcoastseeds.com/productdetail/vegetable-seeds/Carrots/Rainbow-Blend/
Wendy on 22 Aug 2010 at 9:03 pm #
These carrots are gorgeous!! high five to you.