How to Grow Carrots from a Carrot Top to Get the Greens
Did you know that you can actually learn how to grow carrots from a carrot top? Yes, once you harvest them they can still live when you take care of the top properly. While you might not be able to regrow the carrot itself, you can still grow the green. Sometimes, you can even get seeds from them so you can use it to plant new carrots next season.
Why Do You Want to Regrow the Carrot Top?
If you think of eating carrots then most of you will think of eating the roots of the carrot. But actually, you can also eat the green on the carrot top. This green also has a strong carrot taste with a bit of parsley flavor to it. So, you can actually use the green in cooking as any other herb or even mix it into your salad. Furthermore, when you regrow the carrot top, you can also use it as a pretty house plant besides your window. The carrot will grow feather-like fronts which appear very pretty on your window. If you take care of them well, then they might even produce flowers that will produce seeds that you can harvest to be planted next season.
How to Grow Carrots from Carrot Top
Choose the right carrot top First thing that you need to do is to choose the right carrot top. You want one that looks healthiest among all of the carrots that you harvest from your garden. If possible try to choose one from heritage varieties that is organic and does not mix with other varieties. The reason is, if they already mixed with other varieties then they would not produce their true seed.
Prepare the carrot top Once you choose the right carrot then you need to prepare the carrot top to learn how to grow carrots from the carrot top. First you need to cut the root and leave around 1 inch of taproots on the top. You can then use the rest of the root for cooking as they would not be part of this project. Go back to your carrot top, first you need to cut the foliage from the top and only leave a few inches from the top. This is necessary since your carrot top does not have roots yet so they will withered if you leave them attached.
Start regrow the carrot top Now it is time for you to learn how to grow carrots from carrot top properly by preparing a bowl. Fill the bowl with a little bit of water then put the carrot top with the cut side inside the water. Then put the carrot top beside your window with direct sunlight as this plant needs warmth to grow. You will see that new roots will grow around the taproot edges. It will appear like fine hair so you might not notice it right away. Now all you need to do is to wait until the carrot top grows new shoots from their top.
Replant the carrot top Usually, it would take around a week for the carrot top to grow their new shot. After you notice the new hair-like root coming out then it is time to replant them. Prepare a moist soil that does not have peat compost to fill your garden plot or small container to regrow your carrot top. Then you can just put the carrot top on top of the soil without the need to bury them. Before long you will see that the green will start to regrow and you can harvest them as needed.
As you can see, it is very easy to learn how to grow carrots from the top so you can enjoy the green that they produce without wasting anything.