Saturday Spotlight: Rainbow Carrots

This is my first Saturday Spotlight. The spotlight is a series hosted by Suburban Tomato where different garden bloggers write posts about one specific crop that they are growing. I have chosen to write my first spotlight on my rainbow carrots because as I am posting my harvest pics many people are commenting on how good my carrots are looking.

This is the first year I am growing rainbow carrots, but I have been cooking with them for years - whenever I can find them. They make any plate look beautiful - whether they are roasted slowly with balsamic and herbs or simply cut on a plate. The colours are so vibrant it will put a smile on everyones face.  I planted the rainbow mix from: OSC Seeds in Waterloo Ontario.  Here is there description of them:

"A Kaleidoscope of colourful carrots. Atomic Red, Bambino, Cosmic Purple, Lunar White and Solar Yellow. Sweet and crunchy; great for salads! An excellent all purpose carrot. We expect market gardeners will be especially pleased as this unusual colour combination is hard to find!"

Here is my latest harvest of these carrots.  They could be larger but I wanted to eat them!  I am picking them as needed and leaving some in the ground to keep growing.  

 As you can see in the next picture that the carrots with the red skin also have red stalks near the top of the carrot, so you can pick out the red ones while still in the ground.  You'll also notice that there are no white ones in this harvest.  Seems the white ones are still very thin, they must take longer to grow so they are being left in the ground.

Here are the carrots simply sliced in half.  I think It looks like flames from a fire, beautiful bright oranges, and yellows.  The red ones when cut open are not red in the middle, they are either a dark orange or a bright yellow.  The red with bright yellow in the middle are my favourites, they both look the prettiest with their gradient of colour and they seem to taste a little sweeter.

 Here you can see the outside compared to the inside of each carrot.  The halves are matched vertically.

I only planted 2 small rows of these carrots this year.  This if my first year with my new raised beds so we did a variety of crops to get an idea of what grows well and what we like.  We will definitely plant these again next year but in greater numbers!  They are planted in a 1 foot deep raised bed with regular garden soil fertilized with some miracle grow vegetable food before planting.  Here are the two rows as they started to sprout.

Here is the growing description from OSC Seeds:

Carrots will grow well in any open, wellcultivated, deep garden soil. As the seed is quite small, mix it with some sand when sowing. Once soil temperature rises above 7.5 C (45F), sow seed about 7-15 mm (1/4-1/2") deep in rows spaced 45-60 cm (18- 24") apart. Stagger several sowings over the next few weeks. Keep the seedbed evenly moist during the 3 week germination period. Thin the seedlings during the early stages of growth until they are 5 cm (2") apart. Keep the plants evenly watered, weed free and avoid high nitrogen fertilizers. Harvest any time after the carrot roots develop good colour.

As I continue to harvest I will post some of my favourite ways to prepare these rainbow carrots.

Tonight I just ate them sliced with some radishes, broccoli and cucumber with a little freshly ground salt.

Here's the rainbow carrots grilled whole then sliced, topped with micro greens and chili lime sauce.

Have you ever tried rainbow carrots?  Which colour is your favourite?  What is your favourite way to prepare these beauties?  Share your experiences in the comments below.

Also be sure to follow Live in the Yard for more ideas on how to serve these carrots and other delicious veg harvested from your garden!