If you have no interest in Carrot seeds I'd pull them. If you want thousands of free seeds, I'd save them.

If they are in fact going to seed, will it effect the taste or texture of the carrots if I leave them in the ground? I'm not interested in the seeds but was hoping to leave them in the ground over the winter. I have not tried this before.

I don't know. I'd think the Carrot would be too woody after it is going to seed. I didn't pull mine because I wanted the seeds. You are welcome to experiment if you wish though.

If you want to eat them, pull them now. They may be salvageable. Overwintered, not.

As for seed, if what you want is overwintering carrots, these obviously aren't, so the seed may not be good for you.

This post was edited by ltilton on Sat, Aug 24, 13 at 14:29

Carrots are biennials and so should not flower until the second year. If they are flowering now, in the first year, that means that they have been severely stressed, probably from lack of water, and that they are desperate. This causes fear of death, as Alan Chadwick used to explain, which leads to the instinct to procreate for the future. Hence the seed stalks and flowers. A good description of carrot culture can be found at the following website. Click on "Techniques" and then on "carrot culture".

Here is a link that might be useful: Alan Chadwick

Thanks for the replies. I don't t think its a water issue. We are in the garden 2 or 3 times a day, and all I have to do the mulched carrot bed is turn on the soaker hoses I put in place before I planted them. Guess I'll pull them and freeze them. Definitely not a total loss, just trying to free up some space in the freezer!