Wow, the number of responses are mind-boggling! Never mind, i wound up buying the Progressive carrot cutter. Once i give it an initial "push" manually with my hand, then it's not so hard to use the presser though it's a nuisance to wash. i don't own a dishwasher. It's still easier on my arthritic fingers than quartering manually. I need to develop the knack, though, since they come out uneven. Thus i'm not so im-pressed (forgive the pun). The only reason i splurged, is for someone in a local nursing-home who most prefers salads, especially "crunchy" carrots. She doesn't like vine-tomatoes (says they're too "soft"). Actually, i'm not even sure if there's "crunchy" tomatoes? Pillog mentioned a paper cutter. That got me thinking about a parchment paper cutter that i love, which the zip-slicer somewhat reminds me of. https://www.amazon.com/ChicWrap-Bakers-Parchment-Dispenser-Culinary/dp/B00844G2MY/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1544471769&sr=8-3&keywords=parchment+paper+cutter So it would be great if they could invent a zip-slicer strong enough to cut through everything, even carrots. And which could allow carrots to then be rotated in order to quarter them.. Basically, an all-in-one gadget. I'm also picturing a carpentry-desk my dad had set up in the basement, complete with a clamp. You turn the clamp's lever, to keep wood (or shoes or whatever) fixed in one place for purpose of sawing (or gluing shoe-soles or whatever). Likewise, a gadget with some clamp to keep carrots, cukes, tomatoes, etc. fixed in one position, so people can cut peacefully, could come in handy. So yes, a clamp with a paper-cutter-guillotine sorta gadget sounds good. Re: YT video's - due to my electrosensitivity & eye-sensitivity, I still use Win-XP (on a thinkpad) which disallows clicking direct on vid's, rather i need to search for them via YouTube to get them to function. Also i favor quick vid's since i'm often pressed for time.

I am constantly amazed at the DiFFERENT issues we all have regarding posting, getting into or reading our Cooking forum. For example Sherry mentions to start a post from the open Cooking forum and it will come up automatically. I always start from being in the Cooking forum and it never comes up automatically. Of course I presume it’s all our different networking devices and hosting platforms. So FOAS by your screenshot I presume that’s all that came up when you pressed All Topics. I can’t help with advice except to say that when I have issues they tend to go away after a few days. Weird.

I have no idea about optimum carrot growing, but when I was little, my mother found us a little area of empty soil in the garden—I mean about 1’x3’ or so, and we planted carrots and corn. Both grew. They were harvested while still small, but they grew. Moderate climate, amended soil. So they must grow somewhere besides agribusiness! I'm fascinated by Floral's ”several miles” to better growing conditions (soil and aspect). Here, we have a zillion subclimates, but growing areas are pretty similar soil for 100 miles, if I understand correctly, and it's the weather that's very different block by block, mile by mile.

I'd consider Roberts advice, and I'm not trying to be rude but you always insist you have plenty of nutrients, and I'm wondering if you ever fertilize at all over the season relying solely on a soil test. Carrots are short rooted plants just like onions so their roots don't go deep or spread far. Denitrification happens very fast in the top soil with microbes in direct competition with plants for nitrogen. Top soil nitrogen is lost in a few weeks or even a few days being used by plants and microbes, denitrified or leached as nitrates deeper beyond the root zone. Fertilize with a little 1-0-3 or 1-2-3 ratio fertilizers 3 or 4 weeks after they come up and a again mid season with more than the first fertilization. Carrots don't need a lot of nitrogen but there still needs to be a careful balance between foliage tops to root bottoms. Let your plants show you what they need and not a a soil test that will change daily for nitrogen. Carrots will respond very fast to nitrogen and easily seen in the foliage in just a few days, and good tops are required to supply the storage roots with sugars, because they are biannual and the reason roots get big to begin with. years ago I thought I had enough nutrients after one and done broadcasts of fertilizers prior to planting but usually had short carrots and never fertilized after planting. One year I threw some Potassium nitrate (13-0-45) on my pathetic looking carrots and they went wild with better looking tops in a couple days, and a dim light went on. Later on when I checked for size they had turned into horse carrots, and some could choke a horse at a foot long, with some bolting meaning I may have applied to much nitrogen, and the light got brighter. Tweaking the amounts and fertilizing two times now gives me nice sized carrots, but now I add just phosphorous before planting and the nitrogen and potassium during the season. But instead of expensive potassium nitrate I use potassium chloride and Urea.