How to Grow Carrots

Once you taste a sweet, crunchy homegrown carrot, you will never ever want to eat the dried out “baby carrots” from the grocery store again. Carrots are very easy to grow in the garden and you can even plant them in containers if you use a shorter, round variety, such as Parmex. Orange carrots may be Bugs Bunny’s favorite, but they also come in yellow, red, white and purple varieties. Plant carrots in spring and again in late summer for a fall harvest, because the roots taste best if they mature when days are warm and nights are cool.

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Spade
• Rake
• Watering can
• Burlap

1. Carrots need deep, well-drained, finely prepared soil in order to grow long and straight. Start by spreading 2 inches of compost over your carrot bed. Using a spade, turn the soil over, removing rocks, clods of soil and crop debris as you work. Rake the bed smooth and water it in well. If you’re really energetic you can double dig your beds, but it is not necessary.

2. Plant tiny carrot seeds by sprinkling them over the soil. Try to space the seeds an inch apart in rows that are 12 to 18 inches apart. Cover the seeds with a very light layer (about 1/4 inch) of compost or fine soil. Ensure good soil to seed contact by gently tamping down the soil covered seeds with the palm of your hand. Then, water the seeds in with a gentle stream of water from a watering can.

3. Carrots can take up to 2 weeks to germinate. Germination will be spotty, at best, if you let the soil dry out anytime during that time period. To prevent having to stand guard with a watering can, cut strips of burlap that are slightly wider than the rows. Soak the burlap in water and then lay it over the rows. Water the burlap to keep it and the soil moist. Check under the burlap daily for any signs of germination. Remove the burlap as soon as you see seedlings.

4. Thin the seedlings to 6 inches apart when they are 3 inches tall. Select which carrots you want to remove. Then, use scissors to simply snip off the tops at the soil line. Don’t skip this step, because unthinned carrots grow up into stunted nubs.

5. Fluctuating soil moisture levels cause carrots to crack, so spread a 2-inch layer of grass clippings around the rows to help keep the soil evenly moist and prevent weeds. Just be careful not to let the soil get soggy, because that can cause carrots to develop unattractive, hairy-like roots.

6. Carrots taste best if allowed to fully mature, so check your seed package for the number of days to maturity (usually between 55 to 70 days depending on the variety). To harvest, simply grasp the carrot tops firmly and pull. If you’re planning on storing the carrots, wash them, cut off the tops because they rot quickly, and then place the roots in a perforated plastic bag and stick them in the produce drawer in your refrigerator. They will stay fresh for months, but taste best when eaten soon after harvest.

Tips & Warnings

• If carrot rust flies (pests whose larvae tunnel in carrots) are a problem in your area, build a row cover frame over your carrot bed and place a row cover over the carrots immediately after sowing to block the flies' access to your crop.
• If you have heavy soil, grow shorter carrot varieties like Nelson, Kinko 4, Kinby or Parmex.
• You can buy burlap in rolls at most hardware stores. Many coffee shops also give burlap coffee bags away for free.
• Don’t store carrots with apples, because they give off a gas called ethylene that can make carrots taste bitter.
• If the carrot shoulders pop out of the soil before it's time to harvest, cover them with soil to prevent them from turning green and bitter.

Resources

• DigginFood