"col" wrote in message
...

Carrots and potato, how do you know when ther are ready to dig up
please.

I planted carrot seeds a few weeks back and now the plants are about 5
inches high. How large do the plants get before I'll know to dig them
up ?

I planted seed potato's yesterday. How long before these are ready to
be digged up and how large does the plant get on the surface to give
me an indication on when to dig up the spuds.

well, what len said. you have to feel to be sure (just have a poke around
under there! you won't do any damage if you're gentle).

however, carrots take 60 days minimum - more often something like 120 days.
potatoes take 90 days minimum, but it might be much more depending on the
type. external size of foliage doesn't always give a good indication of
what's happening underneath! winter carrots have very little foliage for
their root size ime, summer carrots have a great deal of top. potatoes are
supposed to flower & die down before you harvest them, but you can take them
early if you want to, & sometimes they die back without flowering, or the
foliage gets a disease when the taties aren't ready & so starts dying back
early....

having said all that, most of my carrots are awful, & my taties last year
did NOT behave whatsoever & were doing all manner of deceptive & strange
things with their foliage! :-) so you really can't beat having a good look &
taking all your experiences on board & gradually you learn what to expect
from different things during different seasons, etc.
kylie