carrot weed

My carrots with the offending carrot weed laying in state beside them.

I was amazed by how much my carrots had grown and in particular a patch down at the end of the row was twice as high as the rest and not only that but some seeds must have washed down into the water chanel and those carrots were flourishing as well.
But as I am finding in gardening I have a lot to learn and in a bit of deja vu it turned out that what was actually flourishing was carrot weed.   But...but... how can you tell the difference I stuttered to my brother.  I don't know,...but have a good look.   I peered down at my carrots.   All I could see were carrots.  I can't tell the differnce.  He pulled a tiny carrot out of the ground.   Try that.   I removed what grit I could and nibbled.   Tastes like a carrot.   He pulled another plant, this one looked hairy on the root.  Try that.  Yuck that's horrible I grimmaced.  That's the carrot weed.    I looked closer.   The leaf looked exactly the same but the carrot weed seemed fluffier (don't know if that is a gardening term but it is the one I am using) I was totally perplexed.  And take a look where it comes out of the ground.  Oh yes I can see a bit of a difference.   I looked again.   Ahhh the carrot is a brighter green - just.   Now the difference was plain.  I ripped out the carrot weed, glad to be rid of them.   The poor carrots at the end of the row had struggled to survive and were smaller than the rest.  Good thing I hadn't decided to thin the carrots out and remove all of the smaller plants!
There is so much more to gardening than just planting.