Disclaimer, I've never tried - but these are my suppositions based on a little gardening.
Carrots are a root, you just normally harvest them when they're quite a bit younger - that's why they usually don't have a lot of visible root offshoots. Assuming they're still alive (i.e. not killed by frost and slowly rotting in the ground) I would expect you could eat them.
The question is whether you'd actually want to - since I think they become rather woody (tough and less tasty) as they age. Sort of like eating bean sprouts versus a full grown plant.
Carrots do seed the second year, though I don't know if the seed companies modify them to be sterile like some other plants. So you may or may not get useful seed once they flower.
You definitely would want to get them out before they bolt to flower. And yes, they would probably be woody. Apparently they can be stored in the ground if it doesn't freeze.
[–] unfair 0 points 1 point 1 point (+1|-0) ago
Disclaimer, I've never tried - but these are my suppositions based on a little gardening.
Carrots are a root, you just normally harvest them when they're quite a bit younger - that's why they usually don't have a lot of visible root offshoots. Assuming they're still alive (i.e. not killed by frost and slowly rotting in the ground) I would expect you could eat them.
The question is whether you'd actually want to - since I think they become rather woody (tough and less tasty) as they age. Sort of like eating bean sprouts versus a full grown plant.
Carrots do seed the second year, though I don't know if the seed companies modify them to be sterile like some other plants. So you may or may not get useful seed once they flower.
[–] Wafflebutt 0 points 1 point 1 point (+1|-0) ago
You definitely would want to get them out before they bolt to flower. And yes, they would probably be woody. Apparently they can be stored in the ground if it doesn't freeze.
[–] channelfadge [S] ago
thanks for the reply. I pulled one to give it a try but the rest I left in the ground to go to seed
[–] auburnhair ago
Let us know how they are!