There's orange gold in them thar fields

A kitchen staple that is easily taken for granted, the carrot is actually an incredibly tricky customer to cultivate that could reduce a grown man to tears, says Sarah Todd

- Sarah Todd

THERE is an old country saying about good farmers going about their daily chores as if they are going to live forever. Planting trees in the shade of which they will never sit is one example of this wise way of rural thinking. Sons and daughters of the soil who grow carrots are testament to this old adage. The thing is, as many an amateur kitchen gardener will testify, carrots are far from easy to grow. For something so taken for granted—the quick snack for children and the easy splash of colour on the plate—the trials, tribulations and downright tear-jerking torment that go into growing the humble carrot are almost Shakespearean in their pathos.

Carrots wilt if there is too much sunshine and rot in sodden soils. They don't like frost, requiring swaddling in a straw blanket during the winter and an infestation of carrot fly can wipe out an entire crop.