Carrots are a popular root vegetable that’s easy to grow as long as it’s planted in loose, sandy soil. Here’s what you need to know about planting and growing carrots in your garden!
About Carrots
Most varieties of carrots are resistant to pests and diseases, and they are also a good late-season crop that can tolerate frost. In fact, they prefer to be grown during the cooler ends of the growing season—spring and fall.
Carrots’ root is rich in sugar, and a great source of vitamins and carotene. Not all carrots are orange; varieties vary in color from purple to white!
If there is a challenge to growing carrots, it’s just having soil that’s not too heavy—otherwise, you’ll end up with stunted, round carrots! Most carrot varieties need deep, loose soil that lets them grow without difficulty.
Carrots are grown from seed and take between two and four months to mature, depending on the variety.
Reader Comments
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Carrots blooming?
I have 4 or 5 varieties of carrots growing, and 1 is a Japanese variety. This Japanese variety has a couple that are starting to flower. I thought they were weeds so I pulled and noticed they were my carrots, but not ready to eat. Is this typical? Will this make them inedible?
Japanese variety of carrot
What variety are you growing?
Did you test your soil? Excessive nitrogen in soil promotes “top,” or foliage, growth. If indeed the roots form they should be edible, but the nitrogen may cause the plant to put its energy into the greens and not the root.
That said, you can use the greens in pesto. Combine with your favorite pesto greens (e.g., basil).
White carrot amongst the orange!
Why does my carrot the color of a parsnip? Planted in a pot with heirloom Danvers.
White Carrot
Occasionally a seed from another variety will slip into a seed packet; perhaps you just got a lucky white carrot in yours!
First time planting petite carrots
HI,
Is there some physical indicator (like the dried greens of potatoes) that carrots are ready to harvest. I live in area 5 and have planted my carrots in a deep planter. They seem to doing well, with lots of tops. The seed was planted in the beginning of June, when we were below normal temps until the beginning of July. How will I know when they are ready to harvest?
when to harvest baby carrots
Your packet will have “days to maturity” as a guide. You can also look at their green tops. When the carrot tops are 4 to 6 inches high, baby carrots can often be harvested. This is around the time you’ll want to thin them to their final spacing–about 3 inches apart. When ready, the baby carrots should be about 3 inches long. You can leave carrots in the ground for storage unlike some vegetables. If the greens start to yellow, the carrots are past maturity.
After harvest
Hello,
My carrots are ready for harvest. After I harvest them how long until I can plant in the same soil and can I plant carrots again in the same spot? This is my first time planting vegetables!
after carrots, what to plant...
Congratulations on your harvest! Here’s to many more … if you rotate. A basic and essential principle of growing food is crop rotation: planting something different in the spot ever cycle. You can see where carrots fit into a rotation plan—and what you might plant next—here: https://www.almanac.com/video/how-rotate-your-vegetable-crops You should be able to plant another crop where your carrots grew any day now, assuming there are enough days in the season to bring it to fruition.
Carrot seed don't seem to be sprouting!!!
I am from Newfoundland , Canada. We planted carrot seed in the ground a little over 3 weeks ago. The seed was left over from last year. To date, we are not seeing any progress other than just a few peekings that might be only about one centimetre in height. Is this normal or a bout with bad seed?
Carrots Seed Germination Time
Carrots are notorious for taking a long time to germinate, emerging sometimes after three weeks or more! In your case, it could be due to bad seeds, though carrot seeds should stay viable for up to three years. The other possibility is that it has something to do with your weather conditions. Has it been particularly cold or rainy this season? This could slow down your carrots’ growth rate.
Carrots
There are easy to grow.Children can understand it
I am from Gambia
I am from Gambia and I seed my carrots like five days ago and still they are not gamenat I wanna how long will it take before they gamenat please
carrot germination
can be 1-3 weeks
Seeds
How many seeds do carrots need to grow? This is for my school project so please answer quickly. we are growing a Milk Crate for our cafeteria.
Growing Carrots
Each seed grows into a carrot plant. However, the seeds are so tiny that a gardener usually broadcasts a bunch of tiny seeds, and then “thins” the seedlings once they grow so the spacing is correct (matching what it says on your seed packet).
how to plant, grow and harvest.
More information about farming.
Carrot
What is the depth at which carrot produce from the surface of the soil
The best time to plant carrot in Nigeria.
Please what is the best time to plant carrot in southern Nigeria.
Can I plant the vegetable during the dry season?
Thanks!
Thanks!
Regrow carrot?
I have a carrot which has started to root while in the fridge and wondered if this can be planted to grow and get seeds?
Carrots
Can carrot stems be planted?
Carrots
So adding sand to the soil in the garden will help to grow carrots and beets better? Haven't had much luck with them.
carrot soil
The sand helps carrots from getting stunted, Frank. And you want only enough sand to achieve a nice “porous” soil. If there is too much sand, the water/moisture and nutrients will pass by the carrots. Sand helps if your soil is heavy and clumpy. Check your pH. Give seeds plenty of moisture at the start. Rotate your crops. Carrots can be hit or miss—at least in our experience in the community garden. But the hits are out of the ball park.
See below for other advice.
You have to be careful adding
You have to be careful adding sand to certain soils. We have a lot of clay here, and if you add sand, you get cement. Although carrots don't always do well in clay soil, I till the soil very well, then mound the soil for the rows fairly high so the carrots have a good 6" of good, loose topsoil. I get a few deformed carrots, but not many. Another tip if you don't have sandy soil: I till in a lot of leaves in the fall, and fresh grass clippings shortly before planting. The clippings decay much more slowly underground with limited oxygen. It retains a good amount of growing moisture, but helps drain water faster than clay alone.
carrots
is it ok to grow carrots in the same place every year
Carrot pests
Pls can Goat or sheep eat carrot leaves. I want to plant them in my unfenced garden
growing carrots from tops
I recently watched a video about growing carrots from carrot tops. Since then, I have read articles stating you cannot grow new carrots from the tops. I have a dozen beautifully re-sprouted carrot tops in a bowl that have 4-5 inches of new green on the top and the white roots on the bottom. Can I plant these in my garden for new carrots? Please clarify. Thanks!!!
carrot tops from carrots
Unfortunately, a new taproot won’t grow from the top of old carrot soaked in water. As you have seen, the tops will grow more leaves, and thin white roots will also grow, providing nutrients for the plant. The plant, over time, may even form flowers. But sadly, no new taproot will form to harvest. People still enjoy growing carrot tops for fun as an experiment, or to provide fresh greenery for an indoor display.
I really love carrots
the way I love carrots and their juice, Heaven knows. I really appreciate the guidelines given for growing, caring, harvesting, pests and diseases for carrots, can now do my own garden, thanks.
carrots
I love carrot juice
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