Carrot picture from my garden.

[Gary350]

Today we decided to have carrots with dinner. We needed only 1 carrot. Here is a pic. We had tomatoes, corn on the cob, green beans, fried okra, 1 carrot, all from the garden and grilled salmon. I pull the carrots only as I need them and leave the rest in the garden. The carrots tops are good in salad.

https://i67.photobucket.com/albums/h292/mikeweaver/Carrot.jpg

[img]https://i67.photobucket.com/albums/h292/mikeweaver/Carrot.jpg[/img]

[crobi13]

HOLY COW!!!

[SP8]

Nice one!

You're pasting the wrong link for your pictures to display.

[Duh_Vinci]

Now that is a carrot! What a size!!!

Regards,
D

[gixxerific]

Holy cow is right that thing is huge. I have never grown a carrot or seen one grown near that size.

[pharmerphil]

thats a nice fat carrot, what variety? now, not to "One Up You" or anything...
My wife does the carrot raising around here, I make a 16" deep raised bed for her, last year, they went to the bottom, hit hard dirt and "Hooked" on the end...made them hard to pull, so we dug with with a fork..this variety is Healthmaster.
[img]https://i33.photobucket.com/albums/d62/ldickens/carrot.jpg[/img]

[David Taylor]

Okay, guys, I'm seriously jealous. I blamed my rock-hard clay soil for my carrot failures, until I did the Square Foot Garden deal, and they failed there as well. How do you grow these things?

[gixxerific]

Okay, guys, I'm seriously jealous. I blamed my rock-hard clay soil for my carrot failures, until I did the Square Foot Garden deal, and they failed there as well. How do you grow these things?

Not sure, but it loos like Gary and pharmer Phils wife got it on lock down. I want some big 'ol carrots. Every year there is more hope though, don't give up.

[Diane]

Very nice carrots. I've never tried growing them. But from everything I'm reading here it seems you need soft soil. My soil is hard clay.
So if I do plant carrots I'll try potting soil in a pot.

[pharmerphil]

There's hope for all garden soil ...
When I moved here to Minnesota in 96, the garden spot that was used before I came, was a small 20x25 foot, it had dead plants from the previous gardener, they looked like they were protruding out of a sidewalk!
thats how much clay there was...
Now, most places in the 7000+ square food garden, I can burrow my hand/arm to about a depth of 8 inches without much effort.
Just HAMMER that garden with good ORGANIC amendments, leaves, hay/straw, grass...etc. till it in every seasons end, and as much as you can while you have crops there (mulch walkways, raise green manure crops)
anything you can turn into the soil

I sink the tiller in, to a depth of 8 inches, then we make a raised bed, that adds another 8 to the garden level...
It does take a good deep bed, and rich/loose amended soil

sidenote: The "raised bed" does not have any type of sides...I run two stings 36 inches aprt, and shovel the dirt out of a walkway 22" wide on each side, adding that dirt to the area between the strings, then level it, and firm the sides...been doing this for 25 years, and even in the heavy rains...they hold up UN touched...
this has the advantage of Not being a permanent bed, allowing easy rotation of all the garden area

[Gary350]

Very nice carrots. I've never tried growing them. But from everything I'm reading here it seems you need soft soil. My soil is hard clay.
So if I do plant carrots I'll try potting soil in a pot.

Carrots do need soft soil, the softer the better. I plant the half long variety because I don't want to work the soil 16" deep. I save wood ashes from my wood stove all winter and put it in the soil the following year. I usually only have about 3 to 5 gallons of ash to put in a spot 3 ft wide 20 ft long. I tilled in a lot of sand to loosen the soil. I have to till in a lot of organic material every year to keep it soft. The trick is organic material, lots and lots of very soft composted stuff. If the soil is soft enough that you can stick you hands down into the soil and scoop up a giant 1 gallon size hand full without the need of a shovel or tiller then the soil is perfect. I till in Muratic of Potash and Super Phosphate too, about 1/2 a bag of each every year, it comes in a 5 lb bag. I sprinkle the carrots seeds out in the snow in late February an when the weather gets right they come up. The seeds need a minimum of 3 weeks of cold weather or they won't sprout. I sprinkle the Denver Half long seeds like planting grass seed in a row 2 ft wide 20 ft long. In about a month of so the tiny carrot plants will be everywhere. It is a challange to keep the weeds out, I pull weeds by hand about every 3 days. In about a month the carrots will be large enough to crowd out all the grass and weeds. About June there will be carrots large enough to eat. I pull them as I need them and let the others keep growing. By August the carrots are much larger and by October they are giants. Carrots can stay in the garden all winter the snow and cold weather does not seem to hurt them. The carrot tops are great in salad and soup. The best time for me to prepare my carrot soil is in Nov or Dec a small pickup truck load of composted manure tilled in is perfect. If I can not get composted manure 2 bales of 3.8 cu ft peat moss works good. I till the compost in with the tiller 3 ft wide 20 ft long then rake it up into a hill and level it off flat on top so it is 2 ft wide about 8" deep.

[petalfuzz]

Okay, guys, I'm seriously jealous. I blamed my rock-hard clay soil for my carrot failures, until I did the Square Foot Garden deal, and they failed there as well. How do you grow these things?

Me too! Next year I'll try them in containers...

[Diane]

Gary and Phil, thanks for your secrets for growing carrots.
I like the idea that you can start them when there's snow on the ground. It's such a long wait to start a garden and carrots can get me started earlier.

[jal_ut]

Nice carrot.

[applestar]

Seconding Diane in thanking pharmerphil and Gary350.
Great tips!

[BrianSkilton]

Okay, guys, I'm seriously jealous. I blamed my rock-hard clay soil for my carrot failures, until I did the Square Foot Garden deal, and they failed there as well. How do you grow these things?

I too have Rock hard clay soil, that is why I did some carrots in a raised bed with organic material and compost as well as peat moss, very nice and loose, and the carrots are growing huge. I have the rainbow carrot variety growing, purple, red, white, yellow, and orange.

[applestar]

Oooh! Sounds purr-ty!
I saw those in a seed catalog, but I already had a bunch of carrots seeds so I couldn't get them. I might get them for next spring though, since I've used up most of the carrot seeds.

[BrianSkilton]

Yeah there pretty darn cool looking applestar....I get sick of planting the same ordinary veg, got to be adventurous. I pulled them out earlier then I should of because I was so curious how they looked. The purple ones are purple on the outside and orange in the inside, kinda of a cool looking combination, the white ones kind of look like a turnip, the red ones are very red, very bright....first time trying them, I can't wait until all of them are ready to pull. I do have some in m rock hard clay soil to and those are struggling, but the ones in the raised bed are doing very well. I would show you guys some pics, but I haven't taken any of them yet.

[a0c8c]

Let us know how they taste as well, I've wondered about that. Heirloom tomatoes have always tasted better, hopefully your carrots will too.

[tedln]

Beautiful carrots guys! After growing a bed full of orange tooth picks, I am seriously jealous.

Ted

[David Taylor]

Thanks for your insight Applestar. And Pharmerphil, I just may need to go to confession for how green my jealousy is. Cold temps may be a contributing factor to my complete and utter failure. You all are planting seeds very early in the spring, in snow? A testament to your dedication. It not only never rains in Southern California, but it doesn't get especially cold. Its 5:23am and 65 degrees on the patio. The last time it snowed here was in 1969, I'm still traumatized. Just twenty-five miles away (and three thousand feet up) Julian grows world-famous apples, but here, too often, the peach trees don't get enough cold to set fruit.

So, you see, its NOT MY FAULT!. Mother Nature is to blame.

Maybe I can install an air conditioner in the SFG! I'll start working on the plans, as well as apply your suggestions.

[pharmerphil]

[img]https://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y296/chobb/Sm/yo.gif[/img] You are welcome Applestar and Diane [img]https://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y296/chobb/Sm/yo.gif[/img]
Thank You everyone for your kind words...
David, we plant carrots in late April to early May...any sooner here and we'd need a ice pick to make holes

[kgall]

Wow! Nice carrots. I pulled a couple of carrots today and here they are. Puny compared to yours! I planted them mid May. The packet said 75 days to harvest and I am on day 95 and getting anxious!
The little one is about 2 inches long, the big one about 6.

[img]https://i799.photobucket.com/albums/yy280/kgall_photo/P1020484.jpg[/img]

[kr222]

Holy cow. That is the largest carrot I have ever seen!