My garden veggies taste yucky.

[21hens-incharge]

I used to buy them just because of the novel color, and then got some free seed so planted a couple rows, but after I thought about it the "pretty color" was just that, appearance. They're firmer, spicier and drier than a typical carrot, whereas I prefer sweeter and softer. Also they went woody too easily.

I found them to be dry and rather bitter. The Orange ones grown just a few inches away were very tasty.

I even tried cooking the purple ones. they turned a very unlikable brown.

 

[IamRainey]

They're also tough to cook with anything else because the color dyes anything it touches. And it's much less attractive when cooked.

I used to buy multi-color carrots at Trader Joe's for the visual appeal but when I figured out I had to cook the purple ones separately before adding them back they lost their appeal.

 

[Quackter]

Hi all you lovely folks. Today I harvested beets and carrots from the backyard. I made a salad, but to be honest...they weren't very good. They didn't have a lot of flavor. I was wondering, what can I do to grow carrots that taste sweeter and beets that taste better. Thanks in advance.

I've started using Epsom salt religiously on tomatoes and peppers, lightly on cabbage and greens, so it gets holdover from rotating into root crops. It's over 90% magnesium, as for a flavor enhancer, wow, red tomatoes get RED, the overall health of the plants is much better. Like others have said variety has a lot to do with it. Another thing for root veggies especially, is steady moisture, it can be at either end of the curve, just needs to be consistent. Just my thoughts.

 

[IamRainey]

That's interesting! I put epsom salt on my roses. Never thought of using it in the veggie beds.

 

[Quackter]

That's interesting! I put epsom salt on my roses. Never thought of using it in the veggie beds.

I put one teaspoon under each tomato plant, a pinch (about a quarter) under each pepper, Cabbage, lettuce, peppers, and tomatoes, egg plant, green beans, these I do 1 Tb Sp of Epsom, 1 Tb Sp Neem Oil, a drop of Dawn, in about a gallon and a half of water and saturate them with a sprayer. Usually twice to three times a year. (I fill two pint jars 3/4 with warm water, add the neem to one and epsom in individual jars, put a drop of dawn in the neem jar, lid them and shake them both vigorously, sometimes it takes another drop to get the neem to dissolve, it's pretty sticky. Then I poor the epsom carefully from the top to not get grit in the filled sprayer, (I learned that the hard way), add the neem solution, shake. I have found the neem great for roses too, they take way more applications for aphids for some reason. It's only works for 2 days after the neem gets wet, you can buy the raw oil for like $15 a pint on Ebay, the stuff in stores, and has chemical stabilizers, which kinda defeats the purpose.

 

[R2elk]

Hi all you lovely folks. Today I harvested beets and carrots from the backyard. I made a salad, but to be honest...they weren't very good. They didn't have a lot of flavor. I was wondering, what can I do to grow carrots that taste sweeter and beets that taste better. Thanks in advance.

The number one thing that has made the most difference in the flavor of any of my plants is azomite. It is trace minerals which my sand dune is lacking in. Prior to azomite, all my tomatoes (other than the yellows) tasted the same irregardless of which variety they were. After azomite each variety has its own texture, flavor and sweetness.

My beets are now so sweet that I had to alter the pickling recipe that I use for them.