Gardening on the west coast

I'm guessing noone else dug one of these up today.

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I would have to dig through two feet of snow first. I want to be in my garden but I have to remind myself it is mid january and then I see a picture like that and wish I could afford to buy some place warm all year round. That is nice.

Is it one of those WW1 agent orange,organic carrot bombs? Be careful. It could go off at any moment!

Sure did! By I dug mine out of a pail of sand in the shop. They keep pretty good in there. Next year I have an idea for a small winter grow bed that I will put inside the greenhouse and see if I can still grow cool weather crops and perhaps winter some carrots. Some day it would be nice to live in a milder climate. For now, I will have to live with the challenges of mother nature.

Honking beautiful carrot, probably a chatenay variety?

Boy, oh boy. Back in Maple Ridge we could have winter food from the garden, just like you. The mild climate was a bonus in so many ways. That carrot looks pest free. In the old life on the coast, we had the most horrible issue with the carrot rust fly. That is that frickin' fly that lays the eggs on/in the ground, the larva hatch and eat and mark and destroy the carrot, so it becomes near inedible. Do you have that nasty pest over on the Island? I NEVER could grow decent carrots because of the pest. Even using companion planting, like planting stinky things like garlic and marigold around the carrot rows didn't seem to do much. I had read that if the smell of the carrot foliage (and carrot foliage is very aromatic) that it disguises the carrot leaf scent and can help deter the carrot rust fly. Didn't work muchly from what I had experience with. So really, I didn't bother to grow carrots in the area there very much, always a horrid disappointment. Evidently that stinky carrot rust fly can smell the scent of the carrot growth up to 6 km away, go figure, now that is one honker of a nose, smiling.

I ask, because I have gardened three years now up here in the Okanagan and I have grown carrots that would make ya bow on your knees. Never, not once, have I encountered any below ground pests that damage the carrots. The carrots are huge, beautiful, unmarred and grow like alien beings. I have never been so impressed in my life. Because, I love carrots (horses do too). We are STILL eating carrots that I had harvested and stored in the extra fridge we have here. Still!! Get that eh? We eat a whole whack of carrots too, well, cause we can. So, I am thinkin' that perhaps that stinky carrot rust fly is more prone to the milder and more damp climates.

Hillbilly, where you are on the Island, it is a bit more dry, than say the Lower Mainland area? I am curious. I know that Vancouver Island can have like microclimates and some places can be quite dry. When Daughter and hers lived in Youbou (is that right spelling), near the lake, that is was quite dry in that area. (can't recall the name of the lake, which is dumb, because I do know that name). We would visit and I would always marvel of the beauty of the area. I like dry climates. I recall, that, so many years ago, the price of gas near Duncan was 60 cents a litre. Imagine that. I recall thinking how high it was compared the price of average 56 cents a litre on the mainland. Oh I just thought of the lake name, Cowichan, coool, seems if you let that mind whirl around and don't think about things you want to recall, it does come about eventually. Still have relatives living in Lake Cowichan, but never go there anymore.

Oh ya, this was about your freakin' huge and beautiful carrot!! Beautiful. My favourite carrot are the Danvers. I like the half long variety. Chatenay, I like the colour, but I find the fat top annoying when I want to cut it up for dinner.

Long live the carrot....nice picture and have an awesome day, CynthiaM.

Hillbilly, be sure to answer all my questions, I NEED to know things, puleeeeeze

Cynthia, ou're bang on, on the variety. It is indeed a chantennay. Due to the climate, I leave them in the ground, and dig them up whenever I want some. Yesterday, I wanted some. If the winter is going to be colder, I just throw hay or straw on the gardens. I suppose burlap would work as well, but hay is a common thing around here with the horses and goats.

Funny you should mention Youbou, Cowichan, and Duncan.
We're just outside Duncan, on the way to Lake Cowichan and Youbou. There's a vineyard up the mountain pretty close to us. I ride through it alot from here. Mountainous terrain to get there, but my horse is part mountain goat I think.
The mountains of Colorado, where he came from, probably make this look like childs play.

The lower mainland gets a lot of rain. Most people think the Island does, but they're wrong. Vancouver gets more days of rain. Places on the west coast like Ucluelet and Tofino just get heavier rain, so the annual rainfall is higher not due to the days, but volume. We have actual seasons here (as far as the west coast goes). We're in sort of our own weatherbelt, at the base of a mountain. We are the first to get snow, the blazing heat, but spring is later for us, due to the elevation.

We've never had a rust fly here. I'm not sure if they're on the Island. I've never seen one, so I have no clue.
For a few years, we used fly parasite larvae to combat flies on the horses. They were pretty bad for two summers, so we did everything we could. We got them and went around the perimeter of the property, "planting" them in horse piles. In a couple of days, they would hatch, and they would feed on the flies. I wonder what the life cycle of this rust fly is, and maybe these fly parasites would work on them too?
One never knows til they try I suppose.

I think I have answered all your questions, can I go out and play now?

Not very nice Hillbilly, not very nice at all.......

We were -14C here this morning......

Enough said.

Have you gotten anymore snow or is it just cold now?

bckev wrote:Have you gotten anymore snow or is it just cold now?

No more snow, just cold. We are very lucky though, bright, sunny skies!