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Burpee's decided I only ordered once, so I am only going to get 3,500 carrot seeds, and I have the packet I already ordered (far too few). Originally, I was going to receive 7,000 carrot seeds, due to the server sending error messages and my subsequent re-submission.
One reader asked how I would experiment with the abundance of carrots. I am giving one packet of 500 to our helper, who is starting a garden. That gives me 3,000+ to plant.
The rest are going to go in unusual places. Our veteran on the corner was a landscaper. He suggested building a border around the rose garden. That would be a serious violation of the Maynard G. Krebs Prime Directive - adding work for no additional value.
Instead, as the reader implied, I am going to plant a carrot border around the rose garden. The greens are attractive, and the roots will be watered and earthwormed to a fair-thee-well.
When we added a row of cool weather crops (beets, letuce, etc) to the corn patch, our helper said, "Look at that rich soil under the mulch." He is proud because he did almost all the labor. Spring planting consisted of pulling some mulch aside with the rake, sowing (not planting, not placing expensive seed tape) the seeds, and tamping the soil back down on them. The seeds have plenty of moisture in the soil and mulch to germinate. Because of the initial preparation in the fall, planting took a few minutes.
I have not planted a total of 3,000 carrots before, but I imagine I will have enough to go down the row along the chain-link fence. Yes, I already planted that with peas, And yes, I will plant asparagus there. A combination of crops is better than concentrating all the food for a given pest in one area. At any rate, this is more fun. Asparagus will be an investment in next year's eating and future years' feasts.
