I hate to disagree with one part of this article, but this is the second year we have grown carrots and we live in Bucks County PA. If i can remember correctly, last year we did the Scarlets, and when we started to pull then they were a little on the small side (2-3 in) because i had planted some too close together. That was a carrot beginners boo boo, but after pulling some they began to grow larger, which made me quite happy when i saw them while i was pulling them with out too much thought. Well, with in about 3 minutes i pulled a nice sized carrot out, but it looked…dry and felt rather light. When i spun it around there were tunnels, about 4 ruined carrots later i saw the thing! it wasn’t a typical grub or a weevil or rust fly larva, this thing looked like a cross between an earwig and a centipede and it was quick. But the tunnels looked VERY similar to what a carrot weevil would to do to a carrot. I still can’t find a picture of it but it’s not a rust fly or weevil so I’m at a loss. This year we got a mushroom soil delivery but our tomato plants grew incredibly large from it and crowded out the carrots a bit and they haven’t gotten much sun this year and have taken about 3 months to grow and are again about 2-3 inches but no grubs or creepy crawleys at least! But again there ARE some nasty pests out there that can just decimate your carrot crop! and if anyone has seen this thing I’m talking about please let me know, it was pretty gross looking.

Although some people think they are boring to cook with, I can’t help but love carrots. I have some in my garden myself and they are not high maintenance at all. And as you said, my kids love to get involved!