"Growing carrots"Growing carrots in your garden is fun and very productive. Get the conditions right and you will have a great crop of vitamin-rich carrots.
Work the soil to about 12 inches deep and remove any large stones or other debris. The cleaner the growing area the better the carrot. Dig in some well-rotted compost a few weeks before planting if possible. The soil should not be too high in acid and should be light and well drained. Add a little sand if your soil is heavy. Carrots will tolerate some shade and will grow happily in short lines among your flower or herb beds.
Experiment with a few different varieties and get the kids involved. Kids love to grow
carrots!
Thompson & Morgan have some great varieties...
Make a drill with a stick or your finger in the newly worked soil about half inch deep. Sow seed quite thinly and cover with light soil or maybe a little sand if available. Press earth down gently and water. Keep sprinkling water over the line of seed until germination ( 2-3 weeks ) and remove weeds. Carrots can take a while to germinate and it's a good idea to grow radishes in the same line. Radishes come up quickly and can be used before the carrots really start to mature. Find out more about growing radishes on this page...Growing Radishes
NB: Sow short lines of carrot seed every couple of weeks or so. This will help you with the thinning process ( read on! ) and will provide new baby carrots right through the summer months - perfect for the salad bowl.
  Growing carrots - after care
Carrots need to be kept weed-free so look over your carrot plants on a daily basis if you can and pull out any alien plants. Keep moist especially in very dry weather. But don't let the ground become boggy. Carrots will rot in very wet ground.
When the carrot seedlings are around 1-2 inches high, you need to start thinning. Some gardeners leave the plants to their own devices but I have always found that thinning, although tedious, is necessary for an excellent crop! Go along the row and pull out seedlings to leave one every centimetre or so. Gently firm down the disturbed soil. A couple of weeks later, do the same leaving a little more space for each plant to develop. By the second thinning, the baby carrots you pull up will be just about edible!. Wipe or wash lightly and eat them. These tiny carrots are very tasty and bursting with goodness. Then one more thinning should do it. The final thinning should leave about 2 inches per carrot to finish growing ( depending on the variety ) NB: Try and thin your carrot seedlings in the evening, if you can, to deter the carrot fly - firm down the soil after thinning as the carrot fly lay their eggs in the loose soil around the carrot seedlings. Carrot fly can also be detered by planting a line of onions close by.
Cover tops of carrots with a light soil or sand to prevent tops from going green. Unlike potatoes, green carrots won't harm you but they don't look as good :-)
Growing carrots - the harvest
Pull and use carrots as required. They are fairly hardy and will tolerate a fair amount of cold weather before they become inedible. I've dug carrots out of the snow and they've been fine! *Store carrots in a dry well ventilated room, in hessian sacks or cardboard cartons. *Alternatively, you can store carrots in a tub or barrel of dry sand if available. *Keep away from mice.
Growing carrots really can be a family project. Carrots need a little attention, but the rewards are worth it!
Happy Gardening! Grow Your Own Groceries: Producing your own food is not only rewarding but - in times of economic and environmental changes - increasingly a must! Nature provides everything the human body requires to thrive, and cultivating some of those natural products in your own back garden will not only produce the best food on the planet for you and your loved ones, it is also economical, environmentally friendly and more fun than shopping.
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Grow Your Own Pharmacy: Growing carrots and lots more -If, like me, you want to be able to eat the best food on the planet, grow your own!  • Clear instructions on planning, planting, growing and harvesting the fruits, vegetables and herbs required for a healthy vitamin intake. • Recipes and menus to help incorporate the fruit and vegetables into your daily diet. Back to Garden Vegetables Page Back To Flower And Garden Tips Homepage Click here to subscribe to "Creative Gardening" - Your FREE monthly ezine! www.flower-and-garden-tips.com/growingcarrots.html |
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