How to Grow Organic Carrots, Cucumbers and Celery

Organic gardens focus on all-natural soil and fertilizer.

Vegetable gardens thrive in the spring, summer and fall with blooming and harvest for careful gardeners. Organic vegetable gardens take healthy growth and harvest to a new level with all-natural soil, fertilizer, mulch and pest control. Organic gardening focuses on plant and animal-derived material, cover crops, green compost and mulch, cooperative growing and natural ecosystems of beneficial insects. Start your organic garden off with classic crops like carrots, cucumbers and celery and maintain the environment for fresh, healthy harvests.

Things You'll Need

• Garden fork
• Organic compost
• Organic fertilizer
• Blood meal/bone meal/fish emulsion
• Organic mulch
• Vegetable cages
• Beneficial insects

Instructions

1. Start the organic garden in early spring several weeks before last frost. Cool-weather crops, such as carrots and celery, need an early start and early preparation gives the soil time to rest.

2. Choose a site offering full sunshine, good drainage and air movement. Fresh garden sites ensure unspoiled, organic garden soil.

3. Double dig the soil for organic aeration and loosening. Scrape aside the top 6 inches of soil throughout the site and pile it to the side. Dig into the next 6 inches of soil and mix it for aeration. This process encourages the best air circulation and loosest soil for plant roots.

4. Rake the topsoil back into place and turn in 6 inches of organic compost. The compost adds organic nutrition and moisture retention for plants. Turn organic fertilizer, blood meal, bone meal or fish emulsion into the top 4 inches of soil for more starting nutrition.

5. Plant carrot seeds first, when night temperatures reach 50 to 55 degrees Fahrenheit. Push the seeds 1/4 inch deep at every 2 inches in the row. Leave 18 inches between rows.

6. Plant celery seedlings at the same time. Plant the celery in every empty row between the carrots for companion planting, which maximizes soil usage and minimizes weed growth in organic gardens. Give the celery seedlings 6 to 10 inches of space in their rows. Water the entire garden with 2 inches of water every week and use 2 inches of organic mulch between the planting sites to maintain moisture and restrict weed growth.

7. Plant cucumbers seedlings when temperatures warm to 60 F. These sensitive plants fail in frost. Put the cucumbers around the garden’s outer edges, as cucumbers and celery can't grow in the same space. Give the cucumbers 2 to 3 feet in their rows and put vegetable cages up over each plant.

8. Water the entire garden with 2 inches of water every week to maintain moisture, and fertilize with new compost and organic fertilizer additions every month until harvest.

Tips & Warnings

• Release beneficial insects, such as lacewings and ladybugs, to restrict pest populations in organic gardens.

• Harvest carrots when they reach 4 inches in length. Leave celery and cucumbers to reach their maturity dates.

• Grow cover crops in the off-season for organic gardens and turn the crops into the soil for the springtime planting.

References

• The Ohio State University: Growing Carrots in the Home Garden
• Ohio State University Extension Fact Sheet: Growing Cucumbers in the Home Garden
• Harvest to Table: How to Grow Celery
• Washington State University Extension: Organic Gardening