Carrots and potato, how do you know when ther are ready to dig up please

 
Carrots and potato, how do you know when ther are ready to dig up
please.

I planted carrot seeds a few weeks back and now the plants are about 5
inches high. How large do the plants get before I'll know to dig them
up ?

I planted seed potato's yesterday. How long before these are ready to
be digged up and how large does the plant get on the surface to give
me an indication on when to dig up the spuds.

 g'day col,

for me i have a look at the top of the carrot and see how well
developed it looks then pull it if it is big enough, i like 'em young
and sweet.

with spuds it is when the top dies off then you have these lovley
tasting new potatoes to eat, you can do pick off harvest as they grow
that is using your hand get down where the tubers are and feel for and
pick any bigger ones very easy to do with the growing method we use.


snipped
With peace and brightest of blessings,

len & bev

--
"Be Content With What You Have And
May You Find Serenity and Tranquillity In
A World That You May Not Understand."

http://www.lensgarden.com.au/

 
well, what len said. you have to feel to be sure (just have a poke around
under there! you won't do any damage if you're gentle).

however, carrots take 60 days minimum - more often something like 120 days.
potatoes take 90 days minimum, but it might be much more depending on the
type. external size of foliage doesn't always give a good indication of
what's happening underneath! winter carrots have very little foliage for
their root size ime, summer carrots have a great deal of top. potatoes are
supposed to flower & die down before you harvest them, but you can take them
early if you want to, & sometimes they die back without flowering, or the
foliage gets a disease when the taties aren't ready & so starts dying back
early....

having said all that, most of my carrots are awful, & my taties last year
did NOT behave whatsoever & were doing all manner of deceptive & strange
things with their foliage! :-) so you really can't beat having a good look &
taking all your experiences on board & gradually you learn what to expect
from different things during different seasons, etc.
kylie

 col wrote:

When thinning them out you will know with carrots.
Potatoes are ready when foliage dies down art end of season.
Youl'l know!

 wrote:


You need to feel around the shoulders of the carrot to see how wide it is.  
But remember you probably need to thin the carrots anyway.  Baby carrots are
lovely!


The plant dies back.  Mind you, you can "bandicoot" spuds out when it's
younger than that -- just feel around under the plant for the number of spuds
you want and pull them out.

--
Chookie -- Sydney, Australia
(Replace "foulspambegone" with "optushome" to reply)

"Parenthood is like the modern stone washing process for denim jeans. You may
start out crisp, neat and tough, but you end up pale, limp and wrinkled."
Kerry Cue