Once the November temperatures start to nose-dive, we deep mulch the carrot beds before the ground freezes. By pre-gathering the materials – I keep bags of shredded autumn leaves beside my compost bin – winterizing our carrot beds takes just 5 quick minutes.
Related post: Corn salad is a great winter green
3 steps to winter carrots:
1 – Gather your materials. You’ll need shredded leaves or straw, a row cover or bed sheet, and a few rocks for weighing down the cover. You can also use garden staples like these, to secure the fabric. They work great, but will poke small holes in the covers. I only use staples when I have old row covers that are already well used and I don’t mind further damage.
2 – Cover your carrot bed with a 1 to 1 1/2 foot deep layer of mulch.
3 – Top the mulch with the row cover or sheet and weigh down with rocks (or logs). This will prevent the mulch from blowing away.
Bonus step – Add a bamboo stake beside the bed so that you know where to dig when the garden is covered in snow!
Related Post – A simple mulch
Do you harvest winter carrots?
