Garden review: Dragon carrots

I've never tried very hard to grow carrots for two reasons. First, carrots are one of the cheapest vegetables to buy, even organic carrots, so there has never been a financial incentive. Second, I never was a big fan of carrots. They were okay, but honestly, I only ate them because I knew they were good for me.

This is what happens when you don't thin carrot seedlings enough.
Two carrots wrapped around each other.
They were still perfectly delicious for eating.

Well, that has now changed! I planted a four-foot row of dragon carrots in the garden this year, and we've only started to harvest them, because they're slow to germinate and grow, but I am in love. I never knew a carrot could taste so delicious with absolutely nothing on it. Normally, I dip raw carrots in a ranch dressing, and I dress up cooked carrots with butter and sometimes brown sugar. But I just can't get enough of these lovely little gems, and I don't even care if there is anything on them. They're so sweet and have absolutely no hint of bitterness, which is what I don't like about store-bought raw carrots.

And it's just a bonus that they're a beautiful reddish-purple color on the outside. They are yellow and/or orange inside, which makes for a beautiful presentation on your plate.

I purchased the seeds from Seed Savers Exchange, and we'll definitely be planting more of these next year! We'll be planting a lot more!

Thanks to Katherine for the photos!

Garden review: Dakota black popcorn

 
We love popcorn as a snack, and we don't feel guilty eating it, because it's all natural. This year, we finally decided to try growing our own, and we are certainly happy we did! I chose Dakota black popcorn from the Baker Creek catalog.

The ears are only about four to six inches long, so they cute to use as decoration, but the best thing is that they pop up beautifully. We've only popped one year so far, and all but one kernel popped. The taste was outstanding. This one definitely gets five stars, and we'll be growing it again.

Thanks to Katherine for the photos!

Garden Review: Chervena Chuska Pepper

This is the first in a series of reviews I'm planning to write on the different varieties of fruits and vegetables we planted in our garden this year.

Every year I like to try a few new varieties of vegetables in the garden, and when I read the Seed Saver description of the Chervena Chuska pepper, I had to try it! We love sweet peppers, and I was especially happy to read that this one grows so well at the Seed Saver farm in Iowa, which is only a few hours west of us. Usually, if it grows there, it will grow here.

We were in for quite a surprise! We love the pepper, even though it does not fit the catalog's description as sweet as candy. We really like it on pizza, and I'm planning to try stuffing it. If we had more than one plant (rabbits ate the rest), I think they would make great canned pimentos.