Carrots

[jal_ut]

No luck with carrots this year. Those things are frustrating. Oh well, we will give it a whirl come Spring.

[imafan26]

95 degrees may be challenging. We do plant carrots at 86 - 91 degrees in full sun but the beds need to be kept constantly moist. We use pelleted seed planted two inches apart. in shallow trenches barely covered. I don't have the land James has so I plant in a deep container or small bed filled with perlite and coir. I make sure the soil is thoroughly moistened but not soggy, I put down the seeds and barely cover them. On top of that I will put paper towels or newspaper over the seed and water through the paper. The paper acts as a mulch and helps to keep the seeds moist. I check in about 10 days to see if the seeds are germinating. Once the sprouts start coming up then I remove the paper but watering needs to be gentle. In a pot it is easier to copper band it to keep the snails out. I have window screen in the bottom of the pot to try to keep them from getting in through the drainage holes. If I plant in a container I can choose a spot with morning sun and afternoon shade.
The problem is not so much growing them here if I pick the right varieties, it is that most of the time carrots are bitter in the heat so they are best when the temperature does not exceed 70 degrees which is about January for me.
The most heat resistent carrots were Danvers half long (grows well but does not taste very good) ,Nantes, Nelson, red cored chanetenay, and Kuroda. Yaya, and mokum also grew, we just liked Nelson best.

[KitchenGardener]

James - you have such a great and healthy attitude. I'm still at the stage where I take it too personally when it doesn't work out.

[KitchenGardener]

double post - don't know why

[jal_ut]

Double post: Dunno, happens to me now and then too.

I do better with some of the half longs. The long carrots do not do well in this tight clay soil.



Interesting what you can get sometimes. (Pic from the past.)

[Taiji]

This year I planted 2 types of carrots not having planted any for a long time. My Scarlet Nantes did really well here; some nice 5 and 6 inch carrots. I will go with those in the future. I was amazed how many I got from just a 5 or 6 foot row. I planted in cool spring weather.

I tried some Danvers also, but the roots were short and stubby too. Better for me to go with something where I get a better bang for my buck!

[jal_ut]

Another picture from the past. These are half longs.

[ButterflyLady29]

I've never had much luck with carrots either. Best I had (and that isn't saying much) were the ones I grew in the raised bed the first year I put the bed in. Funny thing was, the seeds were very old, 5 years or so, and I planted them very very early in March. I think the freeze/thaw cycle woke them up. I was going to try them in pots this summer but got sidelined with a much more pressing project.

Like James, I'll give them another shot in the spring!

[digitS']

Catalog descriptions of carrot varieties often refer to soil types.I have very little experience with clay soils but imagine that they are not the easiest for growing carrots.

I have multiple garden locations. I only try to grow carrots in well-cultivated soil but even so, it's gravelly stuff! One problem is the rapid draining and the possibility of the roots splitting because of uneven moisture during their growth.

Shorter growth time, shorter carrots. It's best for me to grow short, quick-maturing varieties. Nelson Nantes is about as long as I'd care for them to grow. Really, I'd like even shorter and using pelleted seed and staggered sowings, can have a long carrot harvest, at least. But no ... DW likes looong carrots! Of course, the longer that root, the more likely it will fork when it works its way around pebble. The more time it takes to grow, the more things that can go wrong .

At one time, I had a garden in what must be described as sandy loam. Carrots grew well there .

Steve

[Dirt Man]

I have good luck with Danver half long carrots here in TN. I like carrot tops in salad better than the carrots but carrots are very good in stew and soup in winter. If I don't pull them up before the soil freezes they will not pull up until spring. Carrots get woody and bitter in hot weather but get sweet and tender again in cold weather. I have good luck planting seeds in the snow they come up in spring when the weather gets right but it gets too hot too soon. I have better carrots if I plant now and harvest before the soil freezes last week of Dec.

[Dirt Man]

I was always told carrot seeds need 3 weeks of cold weather to germinate but not sure if that is true. I use to till my garden then lay it out with metal marker stakes at the ends of all the rows. If we get snow I would sprinkle carrot seeds in the snow between the markers for the carrot row. Soon as the snow melts enough to see the soil carrots would be coming up. We do not always get snow in TN so the best thing to do here is sprinkle seeds in the row before it rains too much to turn the garden to mud usually Halloween weekend carrots will be coming up in spring soon as the weather gets right. I make my carrot row about 8" wide sprinkle seeds like grass seed. Thin the carrot row the tiny carrots including tops are good in salad. If you have carrot tops you don't need lettuce.

[jal_ut]

The carrot seeds are small so must be planted close to the surface. The trouble here in hot dry Utah, the top inch of soil drys out quickly and the lil seeds will die if their root is not down into the moisture below. One trick I have used here is to plant the carrot seeds then lay a board over the row to hold the moisture in. After 3 days take the board off.

Dirt Man, I don't know about that 3 weeks thing. Ya I guess if you plant in cold weather it may take 3 weeks to see them? As with any seeds it takes a little time, some moisture and appropriate temperatures. I am thinking gardening in TN may require different techniques than here in High Dry Utah?