How can I tell when carrots and onions are ready to harvest?
Question:Also, do you have to dry the onions or can you eat them right away? Thanks :-)
Answers:
For carrots, feel their tops through the soil to see how wide their diameters are. If the diameter is as big as you want, then pull them. Remember that different varieties grow to different sizes, and that some carrots will always stay small, but may rot or get eaten by worms if you leave them in the ground too long. Generally, though, if you plant so that they will mature about the time the soil freezes, you can leave them in the ground for some or even most of the winter.
As for onions, start picking them and using them as soon as you need them. You can use young onions and their greens almost as soon as they send up greens. Once the tops fall over and start to look a bit peaked, it's time to harvest the crop. Pull them on a sunny day and leave them lined up, greens on, to dry in the sun. Or if you live in a rainy climate, line them up on the floor in front of a sunny window. Let them dry in a single layer until the tops are quite brown and the skins are turning brown and papery (about 2 weeks). Or braid the tops together while the greens are still green and hang them in the sun. After they are dry, they will keep 3-10 months, depending on the variety. But remember that sweet onions usually don't keep at all, so you'll need to eat them right away. And yes, you can eat onions any time--they don't need to be dried. Drying just helps you keep them longer.
I dig my carrots in the fall. You can pull small ones to thin the patch, and eat the young carrots at anytime.
Onions - generally when the tops die back some (NOT because there's a dought and they're thirsty, though). You can eat them right away, but to store them, dry them a day or two in the sun. Make sure they do NOT get rained on during this time, or they will rot.
both may be eaten at any stage
for storage and harvest I listed excellent sites
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