Sustainable Carrots And Friends

I have to say that one of the most enjoyable moments in the garden is when my 4 year old grandson is here to help. He absolutely loves pulling carrots up. 

This year he was old enough to really help. We had so many huge carrots when we finished filling our containers, the buckets were to heavy to carry back up to the house. Luckily for me he had his trusty wagon handy and we were able to make it in two trips.

So as we have had a fairly good harvest of the carrots grown during the winter's months, it is now time for one more round of sowing them before the summer's heat is upon us.

Carrots need a very soft loam several inches deep that has been composted well. If you think about how long a carrot grows then that can give you a good estimate. Keep in mind that some grow up to 8 to 12 inches long. If your top soil is to heavy you will have a poor germination rate. Well composted material is the key for success. This will give the beds good drainage as well as help keep the soil moist longer when trying to germinate. Keep the seeds moist and if you are getting a lot of wind you may need to check on them a few times during the day. We get a lot of southern wind at times so extra caution is always needed.

Carrots like most other plants will only germinate when they have proper temperatures at seeding time. This is another reason a lot of people fail at growing them. They really like it at around 70 to 75 degrees. To cold or to hot, you may have trouble getting sprouts.

My favorite way of seeding them is to simply shake out some seeds in the palm of my hand (make sure it is not a windy day) and take a pinch out and sprinkle directly one top of the soil. Then very lightly I sprinkle very finely sifted compost around on top. If your cover them to heavily they won't grow. As they germinate I thin them out so they are spaced about 3 to 3 1/2 inches apart. Some folks space them up to 8 inches apart, but even with the fattest of carrots my spacing has worked great and I can fit more in the bed..

I always plant a couple flats in the hot box or now in the greenhouse. This way I have back-ups if something needs a space filled in. You never know what one of my cats might scratch up or now, we have this new puppy to train. It could be a rabbit or just patchy places where the seeds didn't germinate.

One thing to remember though is when transplanting seedlings, the roots do not like to be disturbed at all. If they are the carrot will still grow, but you can end up with twisted or stumped carrots. I'm about to experiment this week with doing my back-ups sown in toilet paper tubes. I've had family and friends saving them for me so I will have enough. I think I will be able to just place the whole tube in the ground after they have germinated and the tube will disintegrate. I'll let you know how it works out. 

Keep in mind your companion plants. Rosemary deters the carrot fly and cabbage moth. I will sometimes just take a bunch of cuttings and strip the needles off the Rosemary and sprinkle them in the carrot beds. They also love Tomatoes, so plant your spring crops of carrots at the base of the bed. Just be sure to allow plenty of room for your tomato plants roots. Lettuce is also another plant that carrots get along with. Actually most herbs help keep carrots healthy by repelling pests. I even have cilantro here and there in the beds most of the time..

Then there is always a little carrot harvesting humor when a few pair of pants show up like this one. It is really hard to ignore this...so sorry LOL. It was probably one of my transplants where I disrupted the root system and made the poor thing go cadywompous.

Happy Gardening!!
Pammy