Tip - Grow Your Own Carrot Tops

[Sue_P]

My mum said back when she was a child they used to cut the tops off carrots leaving about 5-10mm left of it, and would place them in a dish with water and then the carrot tops would start sprouting again. We’re both doing it our houses now and they’ve come up so there’s a tip for you if you want to give it a go yourselves.

 

[keli]

Sounds like a great idea! I've never actually tried my pigs with carrot tops!

 

[Rachel WD]

Ohhhh, that sounds great. Our next door neighbours grow their own veg and kindly bring donations to the piggies and bunnies, they love the carrot tops! Thanks for the tip!

 

[guineawig]

Great idea i had forgotton until i read this post that we used to do this as kids! thanks for jogging my memory my piggies love carrot tops its one of their fav's!

 

[Ange17]

Hi, You can do this wth parsnips too

 

[redd1800]

great tip, thanks

 

[Romily]

We grow a variety of veg for the piggies and they always go for the green leaves of the carrots first so that is a fabulous idea, I had forgotten all about doing that when I was wee!

 

[Briony_S]

I have tried it and found that parsnips and turnips work best and carrots take that bit longer, so try the parsnips and turnips too!

 

[Sue_P]

Uwe I didn't know about parnsips and turnips, I might give them a go too, cheers.

 

[Mackers]

I'm already doing this with carrots but if you want to speed things up a bit (I'm impatient) buy yourself a bunch of carrots with their green tops still on - give the green bits to the piggies or bunnies leaving about an inch of stem attached to the carrot. Chop your carrot up leaving about an inch of carrot attached to the stem and then pop it in some compost. Mine are growing really well - I've got about 6 carrot tops in each pot.

 

[Sgt Pepper]

Reading this thread really bought a smile to my face. I can remember growing different veggies like this at school as part of a science project (won't say how long ago that was though). My piggies love, love, love carrot tops and I often buy them (when I can) from the market. Not all the grocers have them complete, but will certainly start 'growing my own'.

 

[Sue_P]

Here's mine.

 

[Lisajazz]

I must have done something wrong - mine went all manky and didnt grow much at all. Yours look good Sue

 

[redd1800]

my first lot went wrong too, but second lot starting to look good, so fingers crossed

 

[Sue_P]

I got my carrots from Netto and they looked to have white sprouty bits at the tops already but the new bag I've got are from Farmfoods and have no sign of sprouting at the tops, I wonder if that would affect their ability to grow?