Carrot Nantaise 2 Race Tip Top

The 'Nantaise 2 Race Tip Top' Carrot is a variety renowned for the regularity and quality of its beautiful bright orange cylindrical, smooth, and very straight roots. Its tender, sweet and coreless flesh is highly favoured in family vegetable gardens as well as in market gardening production. Very productive, adapted to light as well as somewhat heavy soils, it keeps for a long time after harvest. It is versatile in the kitchen, suitable for eating raw in salads as well as for cooking, in purées, soups, or as an accompaniment. Sow from March to August and harvest from June to November.

Carrot (Daucus carota) is a biennial herbaceous plant, cultivated as an annual. It belongs to the Apiaceae (Umbellifer) family. This root vegetable has finely divided, aromatic green leaves. The cultivated carrot, derived from successive selections of the subspecies sativus, has been grown for over a thousand years in Europe.
The 'Nantaise race' group developed in France, in the Nantes region, from the 19th century onwards, to meet the demand for cylindrical, sweet, and well-coloured roots. The 'Nantaise 2 Race Tip Top' is a modern improvement of the traditional Nantaise, selected for its yield, regularity, and good keeping qualities.

In the vegetable garden, sow the 'Nantaise 2 Race Tip Top' in full sun or partial shade. This carrot is not very demanding regarding soil type, but the finest roots will form in a rich, loamy soil with a sandy tendency. The soil should be carefully prepared in autumn by deep digging. Incorporate 2 to 3 kg of well-rotted manure or compost. All stones and small pebbles must be removed.

The harvest: Depending on the variety, carrots should be harvested 3 to 6 months after sowing. In season, harvest carrots as needed. To extract the roots from the soil, use a garden fork, taking care not to damage the root. Wounds on the roots can trigger rot during storage. Leave the roots to dry on the ground and in the sun for half a day.

Storage: in regions with mild winters, they can be stored in the ground, but this does tie up a growing space in the vegetable garden. In this case, protect the roots from frost with a good layer of dead leaves. The simplest method remains indoor storage. After harvest, cut the foliage level with the collar. In a frost-free and well-ventilated place, place the roots side by side on a bed of sand. Cover them with a 2 cm layer of sand and place the next layer.

The gardener's little tip: Carrot germination is often a bit slow, and weeds can be quicker... two tricks to limit weed growth:

— Practice a stale seedbed: about 2 to 3 weeks before sowing, prepare the soil finely. Wait for the weed seeds present in the soil to start germinating. As soon as they appear, rake the surface in a crosswise pattern to eliminate these seedlings. You can then begin sowing.

— Sow radishes and carrots on the same row and simultaneously. Radish germination is quick; it will mark the row immediately and once the harvest is done, the radishes will make way for the carrots to grow.