Worth the Wait?

I pulled a handful of carrots from the garden this week. They were sown back in early summer and, slow to mature, left in their planter as the rest of the vegetable beds were cleared for fall. There they remained through months of cold and a even few snowfalls.

As I gently lifted each from the cold soil, they felt firm and released that familiar carrot scent. They look as though they will be a delicious, cooked simply and coated with a bit of butter.

Even in this rather empty and gray space, it’s exciting to find vegetables I planted from seed in my Hamptons garden still quietly holding their shape, storing sugars in their roots, ready to be harvested when desired. It’s a reminder that much of the garden’s most important growth happens underground and out of sight.

Even though they say carrots sweeten with the cold, I still find myself longing for a summer harvest of crisp carrots to add to salads or serve simply as a side dish. Perhaps this year I’ll start a little earlier and water a little more carefully. Time will tell.