Carrot

Information

Carrot can be grown just about anywhere. They prefer full sun and well-dug, stone-free soil. Beds improved with well-rotted compost are ideal, though very recently manured beds may cause roots to fork. For best results, follow carrots on from a heavy-feeding vegetable such as cabbage.

Carrots do not like being transplanted, so it’s best to sow them directly where they are to grow. You won’t find any punnets of Carrots at Dave’s Seedling stand. Remove all stones from the soil or start a bed with cardboard and old compost above (6 inch deep) – if a carrot root hits a stone it will fork – then rake the top soil to a fine tilth. Use a handle of a tool or a garden stake to mark out your seed rows. The seed drills should be about a 1cm deep, with rows spaced about 15cm apart, depending on the variety you’re sowing. Sprinkle pinches of the seeds thinly along the row then close the soil back along the row to cover the seeds. Carrot seeds are very small, so to make sowing easier you can mix the seeds with dry sand, which will help to spread the seeds out within the row.

It is important to keep the bed moist always until germination. If the top layer dries out, you will get erratic germination. Keep moist until you see most of the carrots appear. Can take a few weeks (sow mid-September till February in Tasmania). Keep the bed weed free. Carrots are biennial and will flower the following September approx. I pull all carrots remaining in late August or early September and store in the fridge. You can achieve a year-round supply with some good planning. Rotate the beds carrots are grown in each year to minimise carrot weevil issues.