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The Garden...Our Mentor!

Writer's picture: soleilhutchinsonsoleilhutchinson

Updated: Jul 15, 2022

We're celebrating our first carrot harvest over here! These bright, orange roots are so juicy and sweet, they'll surely brighten your day...even just a lil' bit! ;)


We farmers are doing our little celebratory dance, thrilled how great these first carrots look and taste. For those of you who have never attempted to grow carrots, they can be a very tricky vegetable to grow. I often nervously anticipate our first harvest. Ok, let's be real, I'm a bit of a mess right up to our first harvest!


To understand why I anxiously await our first carrot harvest, let's start at the beginning... These carrots were seeded way back in April! There's wasn't any snow on the ground then, but it was quite a bit colder outside. The first seeding happens out in the tunnels. We immediately cover them with a protective blanket - helping them weather the cold nights and hungry pests. Carrots are slow to germinate, and thus can easily be smothered by fast growing weeds. They also make very tasty treats for slugs and rodents, especially in April when the out side is still grey and has yet to awaken from its long winter slumber. I really don't blame these pesky pests, if I were a slug, I would also want to enjoy these delicious, tender, organic carrots sprouts! Yum!


Sometimes I feel like we are the carrot guardians - the ones who stand guard, observe and lend a hand when necessary. Last year, we lost that battle to slugs. This year, we acted in a timely fashion! Yay!


Did you know we seed carrots 7 times throughout the growing season? And that 7th planting is seeded at the very same time as we take our very first carrot bite?! That's where the anxiety and stress comes into play. Each and every year, we slightly tweak our seeding plan and seeding methods, in the hopes to produce even better carrots than the previous year. But the results of those tweaks and slight changes we make aren't known until all the plantings are in the ground. So if there's something we overlooked, overcorrected or flat out didn't know about, well we can't change a darn thing till next growing season. Yes, it can be pretty frustrating. Bu all you can do, is make good notes, and new tweaks next season. There's always next season!

On the other hand, when we get it right, well that's simply divine! You gotta celebrate those wins, even if they're little tiny ones. There's so much to learn, sooo many variables, but sometimes it all comes together in a beautiful carrot harvest...that's the thrill of farming! And so far, we are thrilled with our carrots and most of our garden! It's looking quite nice and bountiful out here. Perfect for a nice stroll through the gardens and a picnic ;)

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891 South Melville Rd, Bonshaw, PE |  info@soleilsfarm.com  |  Tel. 902-218-5240

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