Avonnow wrote:How much did you plant and then thin, or did you just let them do whatever.
I sprinkled the seeds lightly on wet soil using one of those handy pocket seeders. Then, I covered them lightly with seedling starter mix because it's very fine. It is true that the seeds can wash out to the edges when you water so I covered the top with row cover (agri-bon I think you call it) but didn't let it touch the soil, just tied twine around it at the sides to keep it stretched out above the surface. Then I watered through the row cover which kept the soil from washing to the edges and the row cover kept the moisture in as well.
I uncovered them and thinned when they started to show the ferny looking leaves and then kept thinning as they got larger. At harvest many of the carrots were touching each other.
I think the carrots work well in the wooden barrels because the wood insulates the soil. I don't know for sure but I suspect that root crops like their roots to be cool.