Growing carrots

Carrots are universally loved and are one of the most popular choices when it comes to household veggies. While they are not the easiest to grow, they make for a satisfying crop so when you get it right, you’ll be hooked.

- Samantha Allemann

Pulling a carrot out of the ground can spark many emotions — hope, excitement, pride and perhaps even dismay (if you end up with a gnarled and broken one). What draws growers to try their hand at carrots is the nutritional profile and universal appeal of this root vegetable. Highly versatile, it can be mashed, puréed, boiled, roasted, fried, steamed, stewed, pulped or juiced, or simply eaten raw.

Carrots are packed full of nutrients, including vitamins A, K1 and B6, biotin and potassium. Rich in beta carotene, which is converted into vitamin A, this nutrient is said to improve eyesight. You may have been falsely led to believe that eating carrots would give you night vision — one of the oldest parenting tricks in the book to get you to eat more vegetables!

Growing carrots

Carrots are most commonly grown in Australia in autumn, winter and spring. In Queensland’s Lockyer Valley, Bauer’s Organic Farm grows carrots from mid-year to November. An organic farm since 1985, Bauer’s has land in Mount Sylvia (where Bauer ancestors farmed way back in 1885) and Upper Tenthill, together forming 340 acres of land.

Farmer Rob Bauer has been growing organic carrots for close to 20 years. Using machinery — a picker, washer and precision planter — Bauer’s grows about 20 acres of carrots a year.