Carrot

You can overwinter carrots in the bed if you protect them: after the tops have died back, cut them just above the ground, earth up the roots with soil and cover the bed with a thick layer of dry straw, leaves or hay, and in harder frost with horticultural fleece as well. That way you can lift them fresh in portions as long as the soil is not frozen through. Alternatively, harvest everything before the first hard frost and store the carrots layered in moist sand, cool and dark, in the cellar.

The carrot is propagated exclusively by sowing. For your own seed, in the second year leave selected roots true to the cultivar standing (or overwinter them stored cool and moist in sand and replant them in spring). If possible, plant several roots of the same variety (better 10 to 30) for good pollination. In the summer of the second year, the white umbels form and are pollinated by insects. Caution: there is a risk of crossing with the wild carrot (Daucus carota subsp. carota); they belong to the same species and cross easily. When saving seed, therefore, keep a generous distance (at least 500 m, safer more) from flowering wild carrots or other flowering varieties. Cut off the main umbels as soon as the first seeds turn dark brown; the outer umbel branches ripen later. Hang the umbels upside down over a cloth in an airy, dry place to finish drying. Then rub the seeds out of the umbels and sieve off the chaff. Use only open-pollinated varieties, not F1 hybrids, because only these pass on seed true to the cultivar. Also leave out plants that bolted in the first year, because this tendency is inherited. For a direct harvest, sow outdoors from March to June (spacing approx. 3 to 4 cm in the row, row spacing 25 to 30 cm), cover the seeds with only 1 to 2 cm of soil and keep the surface evenly moist until germination, which can take 2 to 3 weeks or somewhat longer.