Harvesting Carrots, Plus Washing & Storing: How to Harvest Carrots
Carrots offer lots of great nutrients and they’re often a fast favorite when it comes to vegetables. When it’s time to start harvesting carrots, get the kids involved for a fun and memorable experience in the garden. Even the youngest ones can learn how to harvest carrots!
Harvesting carrots is quick and easy. Most likely, you’ll spend more time washing them than actually pulling carrots!
Follow these tips on how to harvest carrots from your raised beds or container garden.
How to Harvest Carrots
Get ready for harvesting carrots by heading over to your carrot patch and following these simple steps.
Bring a basket, bowl, or garden colander to help collect the carrots.
- First, decide when to harvest carrots. Knowing the right timing helps to make sure your carrots are ready for harvest.
- Go find the carrots in the garden and make sure they are big enough. You should be able to tell the width by what’s sticking out of the soil.
- Grab the carrot by the greens.
- Gently wiggle the carrot back and forth a bit to loosen the soil.
- Firmly pull carrots upward to free them from the ground.
- Place picked carrots in your basket, bowl, or gardening colander.
- Consider leaving a few carrots to continue growing if they aren’t big enough or if you don’t need them yet.
- Repeat this process for the remaining carrots in your garden.
After Harvesting Carrots
Once you are done harvesting carrots, bring them inside to prepare them for cooking, snacking, or storage.
Washing Carrots
- After harvesting carrots, rinse them in cool running water.
- Lightly scrub the carrots with a vegetable scrubbing brush or just using your hands to remove any loose dirt.
- Set the carrots on a clean, dry towel on the counter or table to dry.
Storing Carrots
- After washing carrots fresh-picked from the garden, allow them to dry completely.
- Find a spot in your fridge where you can store carrots whole until you are ready to eat or cook them. A veggie bin or the crisper drawer work great for storing fresh, homegrown vegetables like carrots.
- Consider freezing some sliced or diced carrots if you have a really big harvest. You’ll want to blanch them first to help prevent the texture and quality from suffering.
Harvesting Carrots
Little hands in the garden will love pulling carrots. Let your little ones roam and pick carrots at harvest. Don’t forget to watch their faces fill with delight as they see what comes up from the ground!
Harvesting carrots is a quick and easy job you can do between other harvests and garden chores. Simply find the carrots, get a good grip, wiggle, and pull upward!
There’s nothing like a homegrown carrot harvest!
Do you have any other tips on how to harvest carrots? If you have any questions, tips, or fun stories, be sure to share them in our comments section! We love hearing from you!
Happy Gardening!
10.16.22 – Updated to improve spacing and add a new photo. Updated meta.
