Lol I'm so unknowledgeable in reddit I had to fight the flairs to post this.
I'm not sure if this is the right sub, but I'm sure someone here will have some insight.
I came back to the house I share with roommates after a busy week, and was cleaning the fridge and pantry and found these. They both came from Walmart in Florida. I know I can't like, make another carrot from a grown carrot, but I'm wondering if it's viable to get it to seed? We have a lot of pollinators.
I know it's not the right season to plant garlic here, would it be worth it to split up the cloves and put them in pots?
by Lychee_Interesting
8 Comments
So if you put the carrot in the ground you’re just going to grow carrot leaves not another carrot. They’re awesome in pesto though. Garlic will grow into garlic bulbs but they take 9 months to reach maturity.
Carrot, I don’t believe so, unless it dropped seeds 😱.
Garlic: likely (seperate the bulbs)
Onion: see above.
If there was an onion pick.
You might need to search around for details of the rest. But generally that’s how I rememeber it works.
Oh yeah, when you seperate bulbs, let them skin over a day before planting. Less rot.
The garlic will do great if you separate the bulbs. I don’t think youll got any carrots unless that guy starts to flower and spreads it’s seed all over the place.
Others have already weighed in so I’m going to add some tips about growing garlic that have worked for me. I plant mine around Oct 25 usually, and you want to pick a time when it’s getting into your cold season but your soil is still workable. I plant mine at about 3” deep, but I think it’s been too shallow and I’m going to do some experimenting at different depths. I poke all the holes first because if I make and fill holes as I go, I get my rows too close together.
One garlic clove goes in each hole with the flat end (that was attached to the roots) down. Cover with dirt and then I put some compost on top and cover it with 4” of straw mulch. I water the day I put them in and then I water them when I remember to until we start getting snow.
They’ll come up in the spring and grow like 18-22” tall. A flower called a scape will form, it looks like a curly cue. Cut that off so the bulbs will get bigger. Harvest them when the top three sets of leaves are wilted and brown. Brush most of the dirt off but don’t wash them, and hang them upside down in a well ventilated dark place for 2 weeks or until the outer skin gets papery. Then I put mine in a wooden crate in a dark well ventilated cabinet. I replant the biggest 60 cloves into my garden (that’s how many I have room for) and keep the rest for eating. This year I had 60 out of 60 bulbs sprout, I’m real pleased cause it’s the only thing out there that’s thriving.
When we get grocery store garlic that sprouts (and turns bitter), I find an empty space in a garden bed and push them in. They produce leaves and garlic scapes (the stiff flower stalks) that are wonderful in cooking.
So carrots are biennials. Which means they don’t flower in their first year. If you put it in the ground now you would likely get seeds next summer/fall. But! They also need other carrots for decent pollination and they easily cross with wild carrots (queen anns lace) so the seeds probably won’t be any good. The garlic is definitely good to go through!
So carrots are the type of crop that needs to be seeded in order to grow more carrots. Propagating them from already matured carrot is just a waste of a good carrot. They’re a cool season crop and they require mild to cool spring or autumn weather to grow properly. Pro tip the seeds need babysitting ti make sure they stay moist and do not dry out at all until they’ve germinated.
Garlic needs to be vernalized with exposure to cold for x number of days and then planted at the end of fall then mulched. It’s fairly easy to grow if you have decent soil and plenty of mulch but it does require being planted with the correct timing. It’s a very timing and temperature sensitive plant. You will have to do research when to plant it in your specific area because it needs cold days and it needs to grow and mature during spring.
If you live somewhere hot like me elephant garlic is a great alternative that is less picky about the weather and prefers warmer temps.
That carrot looks so cool lol