Hoppo Bumpo (n): A children's game. Played by folding one's arms and hopping on one leg. Aim is to bump opponents, so that they lose their balance. Last person standing wins.


August 24, 2009

One step* closer to self-suffiency



Today was the winter carrot harvest at Chez Hoppo Bumpo.

Excitement abounded.

Until we saw the carrots.



Are there any keen gardeners out there who could help explain what went wrong?



* We clearly have many steps to go.

20 comments:

  1. Crikey!!! I hav eno idea but they seem to be stunted with dwarfism?

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  2. One step closer to self-suffiency....

    I guess you just took a baby step with your baby carrots!

    Sorry xxx

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  3. Miniature veges are supposed to have more flavour...!

    According to my Dad (who is a far better gardener than I) carrots are notoriously difficult to transplant, so growing them from seedlings is probably not going to get a great result. They're fairly easy to grow from seeds - even I've had some success! They may come out a bit demented, but that's half the fun :-). I think soil makes a difference too - not too rich and no hard lumps. If you've grown any leafy greens you could try carrots in that spot?

    PS it's worth waiting to see if anyone else agrees with me - I could be getting dad's advice all back to front ;-)

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  4. Check the label first to see if they are meant to be miniature, and always keep the orange parts covered with soil, so they don't go green.

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  5. I dunno. I've tried growing them from seed - different varieties - two different seasons - and nothing. Well, something. Little teeny tiny carrots that tasted delish but were eaten in two meals. I was kinda hoping to have enough carrots to last me a season!

    I just can't grow root vegetables. So i don't bother - everything else grows really well here!

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  6. P.S. I showed your psot to the mister and he had a good laugh and then he told me to send you to the photos of our last "bumper" crop.

    http://www.flickr.com/photos/quiltingmick/2990090145/

    Sure they look good, but the biggest was only about 8 cm long.

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  7. So funny (and sort of cute really as just about anything in miniature seems to be!)

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  8. They do look sort of sweet in a stunted sort of fashion?!?!?

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  9. I do feel a bit bad that I didn't clarify that the last photo shows them growing in their original seedling containers. Whoops ... forgot to plant them out! Those carrots were definitely growing in the face of adversity.

    Very tasty though!

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  10. Baby carrots are, well... baby!! :P But yummy. Maybe trying planting them from seed. Then you don't have to remember to plant them out later. ;o)

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  11. Hey, I think you've discovered the secret of growing tasty baby carrots!

    I saw the tiny sweeties and I thought, mmm, good salads and fantastic stir fry. How did they taste?

    And if it's any consolation, my entire crop of spinach was eaten in one meal. As a rather skimpy side serving for two...

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  12. I think they'd be perfect for cordon bleu cookery...or as a garnish. Course, planting out probably does explain a bit! Lisa.

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  13. If you consider the amount of space they took up I'd call that a pretty good crop!

    We shared out our entire harvest of olives one year by carving a single olive into three parts.

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  14. Ha! We just planted that exact same variety two weeks ago, same brand and everything! I'm not expecting much from mine either, have done carrots before and they are always teeny. But I thought carrots would be fun for the smurf.

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  15. oops, at least they tasted good :D We have never been able to grow carrots longer then 7 or or cms :/ The ones this year are still growing in the ground so not sure how big they are yet

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  16. Sorry, remedial gardening 101 happening here too. Went on holidays for 2 weeks with lots of healthy baby broccoli and return to none...nada...zip. Though there were a lot of well fed, suspicious looking furry caterpillars lurking around the neighbourhood who wouldn't look us in the eye...Sewing is so much easier!

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  17. I can't stop giggling at this post!

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  18. We grew carrots two years ago and they were huge (we have good red soil) and it was lovely to pull them out of the ground - but they tasted like dirt. Yep, dirt. We're trying again this year - will keep in touch!

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  19. Killing ourselves laughing here. Umm yes, they sort of stop growing when they hit plastic don't they. Check out our super carrot here http://juliespp.blogspot.com/2009/08/tree-planting.html
    Better luck next time. Plant seeds and pile on the cow poo I say.

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  20. I've been chuckling out loud reading your post too... mostly it's a "wow that is so funny" chuckle - but there is also an awkward "oh no! I hope that doesn't happen to my carrots" chuckle in there too!
    I was so relieved to see them in the punnet at the end of your post ;)

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