Carrot Seeds: Grow Delicious Veggies In Your Kitchen Garden

More carrots can be grown at home than purchased in stores, and home-grown carrots are far more flavorful. You may grow purple, yellow, and white carrots in addition to the common orange kind. Round carrots, which are best suited for growing in pots, are also available.

Growing carrots is simple as long as you properly prepare the soil, keep carrot root flies at bay, and choose the appropriate type for your needs and growing area. You may also enjoy this delectable home-grown crop for almost a year if you learn how to store and seed your carrots in succession.

How To Plant Carrots?

Carrot seeds can be sowed two to three weeks before the last date of spring frost. Here are the dates of the local frosts. After the winter, the soil should have warmed up and dried off.

With a minimum soil temperature of 20°C, seeds sprout best at 21–22°C, but not more than 24°C.Elevated summertime temperatures hinder plant growth, diminish yield, and give rise to acrid or unpalatable tastes.

Start your seedlings for a fall crop in mid-to-late summer, ten weeks before your first fall frost.

Read More: How To Grow Chilli Pepper Plants At Home

Growing Carrots: A Guide

• Till the ground down to ten inches to prepare the area, for peace of mind, it is advised double-digging. Verify that no rocks, stones, or even soil clumps are present. If your soil isn’t loose and airy, add 6 inches of sandy topsoil and compost.
• Transplanting is not recommended; instead, sow seeds directly in the garden or wherever you intend to grow them. Carrots dislike root disturbances.
• In rows spaced one foot apart, sow seeds 1/4 inch deep and 2 to 3 inches apart.
• To prevent seeds from growing together, try to disperse seeds evenly. Due to their small size, it is easy to sow the seeds overly thickly. Spreading the seeds out with a simple mixture of fine sand is a good idea if your hand is not the steadiest. Then, you can plant sand-seed mixture pinches instead. After that, just cover the seeds.
• Regularly apply light water to the soil to keep it moist. Small carrot seeds require the soil not to create a hard crust on top to germinate; this can be achieved by covering the soil with compost, vermiculite, or fine sand.
• Carrot germination can occasionally be sluggish. Don't worry if your carrots don't show up immediately—they need 14–21 days to appear!
• In addition to reducing the crusting issue, planting radishes alongside carrots makes it easier to remember where the carrot seeds were sown. Plant seeds of quick-germinating radish in between rows of carrots. The radishes will develop quickly and can be harvested when the carrots begin to flourish.
• For a continued crop, plant carrots every four weeks through mid-summer.

Carrots In Containers

• Carrot flies and other pests can be warded off by growing carrots in pots, where you can choose the ideal growing media. Pots must have a minimum depth and width of 10 to 12 inches.
• A wonderful low-fertility combination is one part sand and one part potting mix.
• Sow seeds very thinly over the top of a filled pot and then cover them with just a touch more of the mix.
• Put in a sunny spot, give it a good watering, and label it.
• Carrots in containers depend on you for all their needs, unlike carrots in the ground, so keep everything moist.
• After they sprout, space the seedlings no more than a few inches apart. Then harvest them once they’ve reached finger size.

Diseases & Pests Of Carrots

Installing floating row covers over carrot plants helps prevent many pest and disease problems by keeping disease-carrying insect pests from ever biting on or laying their eggs on the plants. Carrots can be grown without insect pollination. Therefore, the row cover can be left for the entire season.

Crop rotation and weed control are two other ways to reduce issues. Weeds are hosts to pests and diseases.