Carrots Gardening and Growing Tips

Carrot Growing Tips

The story:

I began growing carrots last fall. I probably have 2 dozen carrots in the ground. Of course, I cannot recall what variety I grew. I have never had the pleasure of eating carrots from my own garden so this was a wonderful experience. When I planted them in fall, I crowded the seeds and never thinned them. This; however, has worked out for me. Out of the 6 I have already eaten, all of them were decent size, a quarter size I would guess or a tiny bit smaller than a quarter.

The first carrot we ate from the garden was a month ago in a salad. I decided to see how big the carrots had gotten over the winter and to my surprise it was a decent size one. It was terrible trying to get it out of the ground but after all the tugging, a beautiful orange, dirt-covered carrot appeared. I immediately went inside to show my husband and he was amused and bewildered with my excitement of my first carrot! I washed it and took a bite out of it. It was the sweetest, crunchiest, and freshest carrot I had ever eaten. I cannot describe the sweetness of these carrots. From then on, I vowed to have carrots in my planning guide for my garden always.

I have decided to plant both radishes and carrots together. Radishes are similar to carrots in that they are both root crops. Radishes; however, germinate quickly and mature faster than carrots. By the time the carrots need more space, the radishes will be ready to harvest.

Here are some tips I have learned in the past year of growing my own carrots!

-Thin seeds to 2-3 inches apart or sow 2-3 inches apart when setting seed out

-Carrots need well-drained and well-balanced soil to thrive. Any compacted soil filled with debris and rocks will produce deformed carrots. My soil is very sandy so the carrots did well

-Sow carrots as soon as the hard frost has passed. If you still have some frost, don’t worry, carrots can handle light frost

-Carrots aren’t picky with fertilizer. Good compost should be enough. Stay away from nitrogen rich fertilizers. Nitrogen promotes top green growth and less root development. Roots=carrots

-Watering: carrots hate being water-logged or being watered too much. Light watering will suffice

-For continuous harvest, stagger your plantings every two weeks.

-Pests: I didn’t have much pests around my carrots. However, carrots are prone to be infected with carrot root flies (they feed on roots) and flea beetles (they will attract other pests). To get rid of this, I would make a mixture of 2 tablespoon dish soap and 2 quarts of water and spray the areas that are affected.