Apley Walled Garden carrots

Jaune Obtuse de Doubs

Phil, Head Gardener at Apley Walled Gardens, just emailed me his Vegetable of the Month for January – carrots – sending me the details of each variety below.

This coming week, he says he will be sowing carrots, beetroot, aubergine, tomatoes & spinach in the polytunnel. The following week he’ll be sowing Spring onions, radish, peppers as well as drilling the parsley for early cuttings for the Creamery Café & Apley Farm Shop. All so much easier now he has the polytunnel.

Red carrots – ‘Dragon Purple’ Carrots

A beautiful purple carrot – just as they would have looked when they were first domesticated in the Middle East thousands of years ago. This variety is fairly sweet and they have a decently strong ‘carrot’ flavour.

Purple Haze carrots

A modern variety which is purple in colour but does lose some of its colour when cooked. Very sweet. 

Yellow carrots – ‘Jaune Obtuse de Doubs’

This old traditional French variety has yellow roots with blunt (“obtuse”) tips that are easy to dig up with no risk of snapping, and a good strong (but sweet) carrot taste. Yellow carrots look great sliced or grated in salads, and they stay yellow when cooked.

White carrots – ‘Blanche a Collet Vert’ White & Green Carrot

This is a traditional variety from Belgium. All carrots were originally white or purple – the orange ones are a quite recent invention. The carrots are white, and the top inch or so is green, so they are bicolour when pulled up – very pretty both cooked and raw.