The other morning Toby and I were sitting around insulting each other. The conversation ran over the normal you-smell-and-your-face-looks-like-a-pickled-onion (yes, we are most courteous and poetic when together – you might almost believe we liked each other), and skipped into more delicate territory. Before I knew it, I heard him saying ‘and your carrots are puny’, and I was flinging myself out of bed, throwing on the hideous Barbour I wear in the winter, and running down into the garden.

For the purposes of self-preservation, I didn’t just run down to the veg patch to grab a bunch of carrots so I could win an argument. My mother-in-law was on the way to our house for a roast lunch, and we needed some vegetables. Although even this was not without its ulterior motive: my mother-in-law (whom I adore) thinks I am a little bit of a dippy hippy for gardening organically, and wonders whether permaculture might be the thing growing in her sons’ kit bags.
But fortunately, my self-esteem was saved. The ‘puny’ finger carrots Toby had insulted (grown to satisfy my life-long struggle with humous) had been replaced by big, fat ‘Yellowstone’ and ‘Autumn King’ maincrop roots. Oh the joy I felt as I struggled to fit the largest carrot into our roasting dish! The triumph.
If you have other plans for your carrot patch this winter, then you can lift the roots now and store them. Discard any which have been nibbled or damaged as these will rot, chop off the foliage, and place in boxes of dry sand, separated from one another, in a cool, dark place. Check these roots every couple of weeks for deterioration, and use the most vulnerable first.

And if you are wondering where to store all this veg, take a look at the guest post I’ve wrriten for the Guardian gardening blog this week. Among other simple garden crafts (I get bored if anything is too twee or complicated), it covers storage boxes.