Garden-grown carrots are full of flavor and texture! They are a popular, long-lasting root vegetable that can be grown in many climates. Learn all about planting, growing, and harvesting carrots.
Carrots are easy to grow as long as they are planted in loose, sandy soil during the cooler periods of the growing season—spring and fall (carrots can tolerate frost). Depending on the variety and local growing conditions, carrots may take anywhere from 2 to 4 months to mature. Plant them in the spring and summer for a continuous harvest through fall!
The Importance of Good Soil
Proper soil preparation is extremely important for carrot growing! If the carrot roots can’t easily grow unobstructed, it can lead to stunted and misshapen crops.
Here’s what to do to prepare your garden soil:
- Till down 12 inches and make sure there are no rocks, stones, or even soil clumps that could impede your carrots’ growth.
- Avoid amending the soil with nitrogen-rich material such as manure and fertilizer, which can cause carrots to fork and grow little side roots. Instead, work in old coffee grounds.
- If your ground soil is heavy clay or too rocky, you should consider planting carrots in a raised bed at least 12 inches deep and filled with airy, loamy soil (not clay nor silt).
Finally: Don’t expect to get perfectly straight “grocery store” carrots. Your carrots will still taste better, whatever their shape!
Reader Comments
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Excess production
This is nicely explained thank you so much.
Can I use the carrot tops for mulching?
Carrots for Mulching
Hi Eva,
You’re welcome! You can absolutely use carrot tops for mulch.
DON'T ADD COFFEE to gardens.
DON'T ADD COFFEE to gardens. This is a popular myth with hardly any basis in reality. It's disheartening how much random crap well-meaning folks tell newbies to add to soil. The science is that coffee inhibits plant growth, so it'd be better to add to boiling water / vinegar as a weed-killer.
carrot video
Thank you. Very clear and informative to a newby at growing veg! Do you do any other videos?
Plant videos
Do we have more videos! Oh, yes, we do indeed! See many many videos on growing and gardening on the Garden Planner page: https://gardenplanner.almanac.com/guides/videos/
carrots
Good Morning, I have just found this site and I love it. It has so much information about plants and gardening. I am brand new to growing vegetables and Im starting in a container on my deck. I'm re growing carrots after cutting the tops off, can I keep these in large container inside or can i put them outside? they have just started sprouting green off the top, how long should I wait to put them in dirt?
carrot tops
Hi Mary, Thank you for your kind words! First, if we understand you correctly (and forgive us if not), you are planting the carrot tops? This will grow carrot greens, a sort of edible, delicate garnish. However, it will not regroup the root vegetable itself; for that you’d need seeds.
You can grow carrot tops in water alone. Just put the top (or tops) in a glass bowl, cut side down. Fill the bowl with an inch or so of water so the top is halfway covered. Place the dish in a sunny windowsill and change the water every day. After the tops grow shoot, plant the tops in soil, careful not to cover the shoots. Harvest the greens to taste. (Some people prefer the baby greens; others prefer them fully grown.)
carrot tops
Hi Mary, Thank you for your kind words! First, if we understand you correctly (and forgive us if not), you are planting the carrot tops? This will grow carrot greens, a sort of edible, delicate garnish. However, it will not regroup the root vegetable itself; for that you’d need seeds.
You can grow carrot tops in water alone. Just put the top (or tops) in a glass bowl, cut side down. Fill the bowl with an inch or so of water so the top is halfway covered. Place the dish in a sunny windowsill and change the water every day. After the tops grow shoot, plant the tops in soil, careful not to cover the shoots. Harvest the greens to taste. (Some people prefer the baby greens; others prefer them fully grown.)
Carrots
I live in Burnaby. Ladt frost according to your info was March 28th. Can I still plant my carrots and radishes?
Sowing Seeds
Absolutely! They’ll germinate faster, since the soil should be sufficiently warmed by now. Also, it’s good to plant a few rounds of carrots and radishes so that you don’t get all of them at once, so plant a row now, then plant another in a few weeks.
Covering the carrots
I realize this is probably a dumb question, but in the video he recommends covering the carrots for the life of the crop to prevent carrot flies. If they are constantly covered, how will they receive adequate sunlight?
Covering Carrots
There are no dumb questions here!
The materials used to cover crops are semi-transparent and come in different thicknesses depending on how much light you wish to let through. When used in an area that gets full sun, enough light still gets through to sustain the plants.
Growing Beautiful Carrots
I am not a good 'thinner' and carrots always grow too close together so last year I tried seed tapes. Miracle of miracles. Every carrot was perfect! This year I am using 'pelleted' carrots from Territorial. Cheaper and in a white organic clay covering. So easy to see and plant...no thinning needed!!
growing carrots
Grew carrots with our granddaughter this past year. Your article identified some problems we had, and we will do things different in October; now that we know not to plant them to thick and bury the seed too deep.
Thanks,
John
Patience
Pushing 80 but still only a hit and run gardener but also love home grown; recently downsized from 22 acres and starting over with container gardening;my life is learning .thank you for showing me how my dad did it during ww2,art
carrots
Thank you it was very informative. I think I will try carrots here in Houston.
carrots in Houston
Terrific, Robin! Let us know how it goes! (and thank you!)
Seaweed as Mulch
Hi there! I was wondering, would you recommend using seaweed as mulch on carrots? I read somewhere that seaweed was great for keeping sandy soil moist.
Thanks!
seaweed on carrots
A 1 to 2 inch layer of seaweed is commonly spread on a garden in fall and worked into the soil in spring. It is an ingredient in some fertilizers, so it might help your carrots. If seaweed is sitting on top of the soil, not mixed in, it may not have any more moisture-retention benefit than any other mulch. Moisture will still run through sand.
Companion plant
Can carrots be planted at the base of peas and get what they need to grow?
Store carrots
We have tried several ways to store carrots , sand ,wash them, not wash them and so on. We have found that if you pull them , let them dry a day or two out of the sun, cut tops off 1 inch above the top of carrot, brush off the loose dirt with a soft brush , wrap each carrot in saran wrap and put in a ice cream bucket and store in the fridge. We keep ours every year this way. We dug ours in Aug. last year and they are still stiff and great flavor, only got 4 carrots left from last year. That is 6 months from digging time till now.
Source of information
This is one of my top 4/5 locations for plant information!!
How to Grow & Harvest Carrots
Excellent; You just perfectly explain how to just to help interested farmers like me.
Thank you for your Knowledge and Skills and Experience to help us. I know the best will come back to you. Issac Grai - From Papua New Guinea.
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!
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