Carrots, Turnips, and their Tops

 Well, those carrots impulsively planted around my pepper plants in June are ready to harvest. Actually, they can stay in their pots all winter long, fresh and crisper than in the fridge.
They are the biggest and juiciest carrots I've ever grown, and I love that they did so well sharing a pot of dirt with a pepper plant and a pea plant. Wow, I'm so glad I planted them.

What do you do with your carrot tops? Did you know you can eat them? Often at the Farmers Market I hear buyers asking the vendors to take away the greens. I can't help but wonder if many people know that they are not only edible, but also delicious. Why not get two meals out of one plant?
Try carrot greens chopped and added to eggs (like in a Mediterranean frittata, with feta and sun dried tomatoes) or cook them up with a mix of other greens from the market (you could use Beet greens, Turnip greens, Radish greens, Kohlrabi greens or Kale and Chard) add garlic and use them in sauces, on sandwiches or as a nice side.

And speaking of Turnips, I am also so grateful I planted so many after harvesting the garlic. The purple ones are huge now.

Did you know that Turnip tops are equal to Kale, nutritionally. Unlike Kale, they come with a fabulous root to eat too. We mostly enjoy our garden fresh turnip peeled and raw in salads, but they are also fab boiled with a little bit of salt.

Its taken a couple years, but this year I have finally clicked into Winter Gardening. It almost seems more worth it than summer gardening, because of the scarcity of fresh veggies elsewhere. What a treat.