The final harvest of 2026 and farming is done for the year. I just need to get my little shovel out and do some tillage.

Overall, it was a good year. My first ever excellent carrot crop was had, my chilies and bell peppers were excellent as always, the tomatoes were decent, the string beans would have been better and the beets a total failure due to the evil deer.

Such is the life of an old farmer.

You're far better at carrots than most. Share your carrotips!

I have no bloody clue what I did wrong. Usually I'm in the same boat as everyone else.

Bugs would be proud of me!

What happened to the string beans?

I don't carrot all.

Okay, that's a lie. I do care. :)

This community alone is worth subscribing to Piefed/Lemmy.

and the beets a total failure due to the evil deer.

Evil deer, like in killer rabbit (warning: YouTube)?

The secret is loose soil with some organic matter/structure. Till the soil for about 30-40cm. Make sure drainage is adequate so it doesn't get waterlogged, but give enough water that you can still make lumps of soil with your hand.

You get gnarly carrots if you have stony or compacted soil.

Damn, those are thicc. I thought they were mozarella sticks that you 'harvested' from your freezer at first.

They look amazing dude!

Nice! Those look wonderful.

We lost a huge amount to what was basically 2 months straight of rain with only a couple of cases where we had more than 24 hours without it. Everything was a swamp. I'm still getting jalapenos and hopefully will have some more butternut squash mature. We have a couple of mini kabocha that may or may not mature in time. If we're lucky, we might have some potatoes hiding out there, but not many. Everything else is already harvested or rotted.

Your chessboard is setup wrong

It's rarely dull!

Dudes: we're cooler than we think.

Nope. It's perfect. Made by one of my son in laws for me a few years ago. The wood comes from 2 trees I had to cut in my yard, a maple and a walnut. So it's absolutely correct in every sense of the word.

That's farming for you. You either dry out or drown out.

Yeah they got fat on something!

Worse. They work in herds and shit everywhere after they eat all the vegetables.

Light sandy soil is best. But that's not the soil type here. It's heavy clay. So these were grown in a raised box bed.

True. Well, at least I can bring water to the plants when it's dry. I have no current way to practically or effectively do the opposite.

Ask the deer.

I know that feeling.

If you want to make a fine chicken soup or bean soup, you really need to carrot about having some in your soup. And if you wish to turnip the flavor, you need both!

Aromatics are such a critical foundation for flavor, yes! And nice puns peppered throughout your comment. :)