If you pull up a Queen Anne’s
lace plant growing along the side of the road, you’ll find that its root is a
little white carrot. This wild carrot is the species from which our modern
hybrid carrots were developed. Indians ate the wild ones, and so can you. But
for most gardeners and cooks carrots have come a long way. The main goal in
breeding has been to develop better flavor and sweetness by reducing the size
of the pale core in the middle, where less sugar and vitamins are found. As a
result the best ones are a good rich orange red, crunchy and sweet.
Carrots are now come in all
shapes and sizes; the traditional long, tapered ones; short stubby ones; tiny
fingerlike ones; even little round ones. Such variety does more than just make
life interesting. Carrots of different lengths are suited to different soils
and different lengths of seasons.
Carrots do not grow well in very
hot weather. Coolness keeps them from turning woody and seems to bring out
their color and flavor, too. So in warm areas you must grow them during fall,
winter and spring. In the north you can plant them in early spring, then start
more every few weeks until August 1 or so, so that there’re carrots in the
ground even in early winter. They’re one of the few vegetables that you can
actually leave growing straight through the hard freezes of winter, to pick
them in early spring. To a northern gardener in mud season these seem like a
real prize.
Select a Site
The best site would be sunny and
well drained. But carrots will grow in partial shade. I have grown carrots in
raised beds with great success it is the best way to maintain the fluffy soil
they like. But I find that I have to be extremely vigilant with my hose, since
carrots need consistent moisture, and these beds dry out quickly.
Carrots like a deep loose sandy
loam the classic beautiful soil. But there’s some latitude here. If your soil
is a little heavy, even after adding organic matter, you can still grow the
shorter carrots usually an early crop. If your good topsoil is shallow these
shorter ones are also the right choice. For late season crops you can get by
with poorer soil, and a little less moisture and coolness, by growing the
longer carrots that root well below the hot, dry soil surface. But for the
carrots to get down that far with any kind of grace, the soil has to be light
and airy to the full depth of the carrot root. If the soil is not free of
obstacles stones, roots, clay lumps, old horse shoes, etc., the carrot will
bend, fork, twist or even stop cold. The closer to the surface, the more the
soil should be pulverized, even sifted.
The second most important soil
factor is moisture. Digging in organic matter such as compost or manure will
help the soil to stay moist. Well-rotted manure will improve the texture and
will add nutrients too, but if you use manure, dig it in at least six months
before you plant the seeds. (Fresh manure, or even rotted manure if recently
applied, can cause carrots to fork and send out little side roots). Mulching will
also help to keep the water content steady. Since carrots are a root crop, the
soil should be relatively low in nuitrogen, higher in phosphorus and potassium.
Potassium is especially important to carrot health, and adding wood ashes is a
good way to provide it (but screen out chunky cinders that might impede root
growth. The idea pH is around 6.5
Planting
Carrot seeds are sown directly
into the garden. The first ones can go in about three or four weeks before the
last expected frost. I prefer single rows because they’re much easier to mulch,
for maintaining the moist soil surface carrots need. I wet the seed bed or
furrow very thoroughly before I plant, to speed up germination. I try to space
the seeds about an inch apart, although this is virtually impossible to do
because they are so tiny. Some people say that mixing them with sand or coffee
grounds makes distributing them evenly easier. You can also buy pelleted seeds
of some varieties; these are easier to plant. I cover the seeds with a half
inch of loose, pulverized soil made airy with organic matter a whole inch for
summer plantings; the seedlings won’t come up through a hard crust. You can
cover them with sifted compost, a nonsoil medium such as vermiculite, or
whatever mixture suits you, as long as it is very light.
When the seeds are in, I water
the bed with a fine spray and lay a layer of salt hay over it to shade it and
keep it moist. Some gardeners even lay wet burlap over the seeds, especially if
they plant to be away for a few days and won’t be able to water. The burlap must
be removed as soon as the seeds have germinated. Others sprout the seeds
between wet paper towels in the refrigerator. Another trick is to sow them
together with a fast growing radish variety. The radish seedlings will emerge
first and shade the slow, spindly carrot seedlings. They’ll also mark the rows
and help break the soil crust, if any. The radishes will be harvested long
before the carrots produce their major root growth. But like it or not, carrot
seeds just take a long time to germinate, and the best thing to do is keep them
moist without washing them away and be patient.
Growing
It is best to thin carrots
several times, first when they are one to two inches high, then later on
whenever they are starting to look crowded. In the first thinning eliminate any
seedlings that are closer than half an inch to another seedling. Snipping them
off with scissors is one way to do it without damaging the seedlings still
growing. The second thinning is more fun, because you are pulling up tiny
carrots to toss in salads. When you are finished thinning each plant should
have a space to grow in that is at least the size of a mature carrot, plus a
bit more.
So far I have probably made
carrot culture sound like pretty picky work. It is at first but once the carrots
are off to a start they take care of themselves quite well. The only
supervision they might need is a soaking in dry weather loose mulch around the
plants, and perhaps a liquid fertilizer then they is about six inches tall. The
last succession crop really repays you for your trouble. Mulch it heavily and
leave it in the ground for a spring harvest. If you see flowers resembling
Queen Anne’s lace in your carrot patch, it means that the carrots have bolted
(produced flowers in order to make seeds). This has never happened to me, but
if it happens to you plant bolt-resistant varieties and stick to cool weather
plantings.
Pests and Diseases
Carrot problems are usually
minimal. Carrot diseases are not common, but most, including “carrot yellows”
can be avoided by crop rotation. Rotating the crop will also deter the one
serious pest, the carrot rust fly. And the will not bother your late plantings.
Flea beetles may bother your late ones, but not the early ones.
Harvest
Give carrots a good twist when
you pull them up so that the leaves do not break off in your hand, but once
they are up, cut off the leaves right away. Carrot tops may look pretty on
carrots, but they keep growing and draw moisture and nourishment out of the
roots, leaving them limp, wrinkled and tasteless.
Varieties
Stored in boxes in mulched pits
or trenches outdoors, in moist sand in garbage cans in the cellar, or just in
the refrigerator, carrots keep a long time. Freeze the small, tenderest ones,
but use the heavy duty “keepers” in soups and stews or simmered in butter and a
little brown sugar until all the cooking liquid has evaporated. Good short,
early varieties are “Danvers Half-long” the Chantenay varieties such as “Red
Cored Chantenay” and the sweet Nantes types such as “Scarlet Nantes”. Good long
carrots are “imperator” a great keeper “Gold Pak” “Orlando Gold” which resists
bolting and cracking and A Plus, which is especially nutritious. Ball shaped
carrots include “Kundulus” and the old fashioned “Oxheart”. Good midgets are
the three inch “Little Finger” lady Finger and short in Sweet. 