Description

DRAGON CARROT (Daucus carota) is the finest, most refined "purple' carrot available. Developed by John Navazio of the Organic Seed Alliance to be an "heirloom of tomorrow," the beautiful reddish-purple exterior provides an amazing contrast with the yellowish-orange interior when peeled or sliced. Sweet but with a hint of spice, making it an excellent choice fresh or especially roasted. 90 days. 100 seeds.  

FOOD FOR HEALTH: The Dragon carrot has an equivalent lycopene content to tomatoes. Lycopene has antioxidant and antiproliferative properties that may reduce incidences of cancer, cardiovascular disease, and macular degeneration.

GROWING TIPS: Carrots have a very tiny seed and high germination. Thinning can disturb the root structure, so you will achieve the best results by adequately spacing seeds when initially planted and re-sow to fill any gaps (which will give you a nicely staggered crop). Some people mix the fine seeds with sand and then sow to achieve this spacing. Others mix the carrot seeds with radish seed. The radishes will mature quickly. Whatever your method, carrots require very fine soil down to a depth beyond their mature size. Many prepare carrot "boxes" using sand and garden soil that has been sifted to remove any stones or other particles that might cause the root to misform or split.

USE TIP: The beautiful feathery foliage from your mature carrots is a good addition to the compost pile -- but first use them in your vase. They make a delightful and elegant filler!

HARVESTING TIP: Carrots have fine root hairs growing alone the length of their tap root. If you harvest the carrot by pulling the greenery sometimes the foliage will separate and leave the carrot in the ground. To avoid this, first push the carrot into the soil a bit to break these fine root hairs, then pull to remove from the soil.