Whoever said that it hasn’t been a great year for growing vegetables didn’t talk to Colm Moyle and his grandchildren in Muff. Colm has been successfully growing vegetables for years and has recently passed the baton of giant carrot growing to a few of his 16 grandchildren who all love watering and tending the perfectly formed vegetables. So what is their secret? The children are eager to share their growing tips.
“We grow them in sections of plastic drainage pipes” explains one. “We put them in the ground and filled it with potting compost. We plant three seeds in each pipe and when the seeds sprout, only the strongest is left to grow.” Another thinks that the feeding is important. “We fed the carrots every week with an organic plant food,” he adds enthusiastically. The eldest has measured and weighed the root. “The largest one we grew weighs 2lb 12oz (1.25kg) and the top of it is 18 inches across.” He tells me. “When the long root was on it measured 3 feet,” he adds.
So would the children be eating the giant carrot? “Ugh no!” they all say, “It doesn’t look tasty at all”. Colm steps in. “I think we are going to be eating soup until the spring,” he says with a wry smile.
FUN CARROT FACTS
The average person will consume 10,866 carrots in a lifetime
Carrots were the first vegetable to be canned commercially.
You can get 2000 carrot seeds on a teaspoon.
Carrots were first grown as a medicine not a food.
If carrots were made into bio- fuel, it would take approximately 6000 of them to drive one mile.
“We grow them in sections of plastic drainage pipes” explains one. “We put them in the ground and filled it with potting compost. We plant three seeds in each pipe and when the seeds sprout, only the strongest is left to grow.” Another thinks that the feeding is important. “We fed the carrots every week with an organic plant food,” he adds enthusiastically. The eldest has measured and weighed the root. “The largest one we grew weighs 2lb 12oz (1.25kg) and the top of it is 18 inches across.” He tells me. “When the long root was on it measured 3 feet,” he adds.
So would the children be eating the giant carrot? “Ugh no!” they all say, “It doesn’t look tasty at all”. Colm steps in. “I think we are going to be eating soup until the spring,” he says with a wry smile.
FUN CARROT FACTS
The average person will consume 10,866 carrots in a lifetime
Carrots were the first vegetable to be canned commercially.
You can get 2000 carrot seeds on a teaspoon.
Carrots were first grown as a medicine not a food.
If carrots were made into bio- fuel, it would take approximately 6000 of them to drive one mile.
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