A carrot is not a natural food for a wombat. But imagine you are a creature who's eaten grass and various other ground covers, gnawed at the bases of reeds and rushes and chewed the odd tough root.
Then you discover carrots, sweet, crisp, lush. Some wombats (no names mentioned) would bash down the back door for carrots.
Crisp, fat carrots are easily found in the supermarket. They are not so easily grown in the garden. So why bother?
It's partly taste. The best carrot salad I ever ate - one so good I had three helpings, and would have had more if I wasn't trying to give a vague image of good manners - was simply grated carrot, a little chopped parsley and chives, and a touch of olive oil. When I asked for the recipe, the cook darted out the door and came back proudly holding half a dozen misshapen roots - carrots that would never have been allowed near the door of a beauty contest or a supermarket, but had the flavour of sunlight and soil. And carrot.
The second is the transformation of tomato soup when you add a homegrown carrot. No matter how deep red - and homegrown - the tomatoes, adding a homegrown carrot or two gives the soup a distinct orange colour you don't get if you add commercial carrots. On the basis that ''colour is good for you'' in fruit and vegies, homegrown carrots are ... well, I'm not sure what they are doing, but suspect it is excellent for our health.
This is carrot preparation time. For an everyday veg, carrots are as fussy as two year olds. Choose an already fertile bed if you can, one that grew lush lettuces or other greens last year, so your baby carrots have the best start in life. The bed must be weed free. Carrots begin as tiny feathery shoots, easy knocked out of the way or smothered by almost any weed you can think of. One weeding is not enough, as there will be more weed seed lurking. Weed at least four times, and even then you'll need to weed again when the carrots emerge.
The amount of digging you'll need will depend on the condition of your soil and the variety of carrot you intend to grow. Deep soft soil will permit the carrot root to head downwards all by itself. Rocky soil may mean you get thinner and twisty carrots that are almost impossible to clean and peel. Baby carrots or round carrots don't need deep soil. But deep digging will help weed control.
Now sow your seed, once reasonable concern over frosts is over. Early-planted carrots may feel they have done their winter duty and go to seed.
Combining carrot seed and sand is often recommended so you don't plant them close together. I never bothered, till I realised the sand also helps stop the carrot seed clumping together when it's watered, unless the watering - or rain - is light and your garden level. If you lack sand, fine dirt will do the job as well. Another option is to make small parallel rows in the soil, a few centimetres high, and sew carrot seed thinly between them, so it can't run away. Cover the seeds with a very light sprinkle of soil.
Check at least every three days, and rigorously pick out any weed you can find. Water gently so the seed doesn't wash into a clump, or even float out of the garden. Once the seedlings emerge don't feed until a cautious finger can discern they are growing roots, or you may end up with luxurious carrot tops and not much bottom. Water at least weekly, unless it rains enough to keep the soil moist.
Be ruthless with snails. This is the time for a lockdown haircut - sprinkle the spiky hair ends around your carrot seed or seedlings as a deterrent for sensitive snail tummies. Use reinforcing mesh, dug at least 60cm into the ground, to keep out any orphaned wombat who was introduced to carrots by humans during care. The mesh will also keep out wallabies, but not possums.
With luck, your possums will be intent on roses, citrus trees and other delicacies and not notice the carrots. If they do, act at once, and cover with the wire netting used for chook houses, tough and heavy, a good big stretch of it that the possum can't wriggle under. You will have an angry possum, but you will also have carrots.
A fresh, round, bright orange carrot, washed under the tap and crunched at once is a joy for kids and adults. It is absurdly simple, and wonderful out of all proportion to the time involved growing them.
NB: In this time of lockdown, carrot seed will be sent by post from many seed companies or garden centres that have an online presence. Many supermarkets also sell seed, and you can add them to your pick-up list. Weed now - and order you carrot seed.
This week I am:
- Watching bud after bud on the new fruit trees become leaves and blossom.
- Discovering more fruit trees, flowering shrubs or roses have burst into bloom overnight, every night.
- Trying to resist any of the bare-rooted fruit tree and shrub bargains at this time of year. They are genuine bargains, but we have enough.
- Still attempting to give away Tahitian limes. I'm sure the trees have cheated and produced two crops instead of one this winter.
- Picking parsley for us and the chooks, as much as possible, to keep removing the seed heads till some more germinates.
- Waiting for that first fat asparagus spear to peer up from the soil. One warm week should do it...
