Carrots

Carrots prefer sunny locations (6 to 10 hours of sun). The soil itself should be free-draining; this is one of the few crops that actively benefits from sandier soils. You don’t want your soil to be too rich either or the carrots can’t reach down!

 If your garden is made up of hard, clay soil, grow carrots in containers or raised beds at least 8 inches to 12 inches high. See our tips on container gardening below!

When to Plant Carrots

• Carrot seeds can be sown about 2 to 3 weeks before the last spring frost date. Find your local frost dates here. Ideally, you want the soil to have both dried out and warmed up a little after the winter.
  • Seeds germinate after the soil temperature is at least 40° and germinate best at 55-65°, not exceeding 75°F. High summer temperatures reduce growth, decrease quality, and cause bitter or off-flavors to develop.
• For a fall harvest, sow seeds in mid- to late summer—starting about 10 weeks before your first fall frost.

How to Plant Carrots

• Prepare the site by tilling to a depth of 10 inches. Make sure there are no rocks, stones, or even soil clumps. Amend soil with compost and 6 inches of sandy topsoil if your soil isn’t loose and airy. We recommend double-digging to be certain.

• We recommend sowing seeds directly in the garden (or wherever you plan to grow them) rather than transplanting. Carrots do not like to have their roots disturbed. 
• Sow 1/4 inch deep, 2 to 3 inches apart in rows 1 foot apart.
  • Tip: Try to distribute seed in an even fashion so that seeds don’t grow together. The seeds are pretty tiny and it’s very easy to sow them too thickly. If you’ve not got the steadiest hand, then a simple tip is to mix the seeds with fine sand, to spread the seeds out. You can then sow pinches of your sand-seed mix instead. Then just cover the seeds over.
• Keep the soil moist with frequent shallow waterings. For small carrot seeds to germinate, the soil mustn’t form a hard crust on top; cover with a layer of fine sand, vermiculite, or compost to prevent a crust from forming. (If you put your finger in the ground, it should be moist, but not wet, to the middle knuckle.)
•  Carrots are sometimes slow to germinate. They require 14-21 days to emerge, so don’t panic if your carrots don’t appear right away!
• Planting radishes with carrots helps minimize the crusting problem and helps you keep track of where the carrot seeds were planted. Sow quick-germinating radish seeds between carrot rows. The radishes will grow quickly and by the time the carrots really start to grow, the radishes can be harvested. 
• For a continued harvest, plant carrots every 4 weeks through mid-summer.

Carrots in Containers

Growing carrots in pots is a great way to customise the perfect growing medium and avoid pests like carrot fly. Pos need to be at least 10 12 inches deep and as wide as possible.

• A great low-fertility mix is one part sand, one part potting mix.
• Sow seeds very thinly over the top of a filled pot and then cover them over with just a touch more of the mix.
• Water well, label, and set into a sunny position.
• Keep everything moist as unlike those that are in the ground, these carrots will be entirely dependent on you for all their needs.
• Thin the seedlings to a couple of inches apart once they’re up. Then harvest once they’ve reached finger size.

Check out this video to learn how to plant carrots in the ground and in containers!