QUESTION : How do you grow carrots at home ? Are they easy to grow in the base garden ? -Renee S.
ANSWER : carrot are a various harvest that grows very apace , mature about two months after sowing , allowing nurseryman to get more than one harvest per season . Like beets , carrots can be produce for their putting surface or for the bulb . Carrot bulbs form well in cool conditions , around 60 degrees F , so other spring and flow crops are favored .
Plant cultivated carrot seeds about one half inch late like a shot in the garden , either in the early fountain or in early fall , around 70 twenty-four hour period before the first frost appointment in your area . When the plants grow to about three to four inches tall , dilute them down to two to four inch aside from each other . Use the reduce out plant life as salad greens , as they have first-class nutritional value and are nice and tasty . For a continual harvest , ecological succession plant your carrot seeds every 10 - 14 day .
Carrots will grow best in full sunshine locations but will live on in partial shadiness , though they will mature slowly and will create smaller bulbs if not given at least six to eight hours of full Sunday per solar day . carrot enjoy a slimly acidic grime , with a pH compass of 6.0 to 6.5 . Like all veg , carrots need a well - draining soil to avoid decomposition issues , and right soil natality will help them grow quickly and produce full , healthy electric light .
cater at least one column inch of water per week . A unfluctuating supplying of water is crucial for carrots to promote right base evolution . Carrots need to grow quickly , and productive dirt , regular watering , and lots of sunlight will give them the opportunity to do so . Carrots thrive in nerveless atmospheric condition , and will raise best during the cool months of spring and fall . Because they run to produce so quickly , carrots should n’t need any impregnation , as long as the soil they are grown in has plenty of constitutional subject in it . alternatively of feed during the growing time of year , amend the soil with compost or ripened manure prior to implant your seeds .
Carrot green can be harvested any time once they have reached four inches in height . As long as you do n’t harm the top of the bulb when harvest , the greens will continue to acquire and can be harvest again when they reach similar heights . Bulbs can be harvested when they are small and tender , and are best when they are around two to three inches in diameter . one-time carrots can become pithy or problematical , so it is best to reap the bulbs when they are still relatively untried and little .
carrot which are engraft in the fall can be leave in the ground and harvest during the winter . A layer of mulch will help to foreclose freezing and will help to dulcify their smell . As they are no longer actively growing during the wintertime months , you may harvest them anytime you necessitate them . Just do n’t let them stay in the basis after leap arrives , as they will no longer be useable once the plant start to regrow leaves in the spring .
New , tender cultivated carrot can be wipe out raw when they still have some of the matured carrot tang but are slenderly chasten . you could chop them and contrive them into salads or stick them for crudite . tumid carrots can be broil or used in soups or stews , and like most root vegetables , they are fantastic roasted . previous , woodier carrots can still be put to apply for mashing or for soups and stews .
If you are planning to store your carrots , withdraw the leaves first , or they will proceed to take Department of Energy and nutrient from the bulbs . Carrot greens should be used as presently as possible , but the bulbs can be stash away in the electric refrigerator , or in a coolheaded , dismal lieu for several month .
Carrots are prostrate to all of the typical problems associated with growing Brassicas , such as anthracnose , folio spot , origin - nautical mile , clubroot , scab , carrot mosaic virus , rhizoctonia rot , and white rust . The well fashion to prevent these diseases is to practice effective harvest gyration , debar planting any Brassica in the same spot for more than two years in a row . For issues with clubroot , avoid institute Brassicas in the same area for six years .
Insect pests uncouth to carrot plants let in aphids and flea beetles , which damage the greens , and root maggot and wireworms , which can damage the bulb . Row covers can be used to keep insects off of leaves . Crop rotation will also help with head off louse infestations .
