Spring is on the way and it is time to prepare for the next season. So today I removed the remaining, rather woody, carrots from the planter and my husband tipped all the sandy soil it contained on to our raised beds. I took the bundle of carrots indoors to prepare them for a bean casserole.
A quick quality check gave me about 800 grams of usable 'seconds' carrots for the fridge and 450 grams for immediate use. However, by the time I had cleaned and peeled these 'thirds' I had discarded about 150 grams thanks to the burrowing activities of carrot fly.
This set me pondering on one local question and one international topic. The first is how far can a carrot fly fly? We live behind a playing field that was formerly pasture land as our oldest neighbour remembers. This is not a good area for carrots - far too much clay. Our nearest allotments are a good thirty minutes walk away. The sand for the planter came from my family. Their garden is constructed on top of sand left behind when the coastal marshes expanded and the shoreline retreated. Carrots thrive in these conditions, but their garden is primarily ornamental.
My husband has a theory that the carrot flies did not commute from the coast. They were living locally on some wild relation of the carrot and moved to our garden, despite my companion planting, when they scented a better option.
The big international topic is the drastic global insect decline reported earlier this week. That needs much more space that I can offer here. The supermarket 'seconds' vegetables look more regular than mine and the organic carrots seem blemish free. How have the farmers achieved this and how much pesticide have they expended? What are the long-term effects on insect populations? Somehow a balance needs to be struck.
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