How to grow carrots, and when to sow them here
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Carrots have a reputation for being fussy and most of the trouble happens in the first 3 weeks, before anybody has even seen a seedling. The seed is slow, it is tiny, and if the top 10mm of the row dries out once while it is germinating, that row is finished and you will be standing there in a fortnight wondering whether the seed was any good. So the watering matters more than the soil does, which is the opposite of what most carrot advice tells you.
When to sow them here
Carrots go in direct from about August through to April in this district, and the two easiest windows are early spring and then again in autumn, when the soil is warm enough to get them moving and the surface is not drying out by lunchtime.
A midsummer sowing will work, and you will be out there twice a day keeping the row damp to make it happen. A deep winter sowing sits in cold soil for a month before anything shows. Both are possible, neither is the easy way in.
Sow a short row every 3 or 4 weeks through the season rather than the whole packet at once, because a metre of carrots all ready on the same day is a lot of carrots.
Always direct sow, never transplant
Carrots make one taproot and that root is the thing you are growing, so lifting a seedling and putting it somewhere else damages the tip and you get a forked or stunted carrot for your trouble. There is no punnet shortcut on this crop.
Getting the bed right
The bed wants to be loose, deep and free of obstacles, because anything the tip hits makes the root fork.
- Dig or fork it to about 300mm and break up the clumps as you go, deeper than most people bother with and it shows in the finished carrot.
- Take the stones out. If the ground is properly rocky, running the top 150mm through a sieve is tedious and it is the difference between straight carrots and a bucket of legs.
- No fresh manure and no high nitrogen feed. Both cause forking and hairy roots, and nitrogen gives you a magnificent green top over a thin pale root. Compost that went in for the crop before this one is ideal.
- Pick the variety to suit the depth you have got. Chantenay and the short stumpy types cope with heavier or shallower ground, and the long Nantes and Topweight sorts want depth and a loose bed to do it in.
Sowing, and the bit that decides everything
Rake a shallow drill about 10mm deep, sow thinly along it, and cover with a fine seed raising mix rather than garden soil, because a crust over the top is one more thing a carrot seedling has to fight through.
Then keep that strip damp every single day until they are up, which takes anywhere from 14 to 21 days. Laying a plank or a piece of hessian flat over the row holds the moisture in beautifully, and you check under it daily and whip it off the moment you see green. Watering with a fine rose or a mister stops the seed washing into clumps.
Thinning, and why it is not optional
When the seedlings are about 50mm tall, thin them so there is roughly 50mm between the ones you keep. Crowded carrots stay skinny and there is no way around it, so be harder about this than feels reasonable.
Do it with damp soil and pinch the tops off at ground level rather than pulling, which leaves the roots of the keepers undisturbed.
Watering once they are up, and why they split
Once the seedlings are established the watering flips around completely. Deep and less often is what you want now, because a light daily sprinkle keeps the roots up near the surface where it is hot and dry.
Splitting is nearly always a watering story. A carrot that goes dry for a week and then gets a good soak swells faster than its skin can keep up with, and it cracks down the side. Steady beats generous.
When to pull them
Most varieties want 12 to 16 weeks, and they will sit happily in the ground past that in cool weather, so there is no hurry once they are ready. Scrape a little soil away from the shoulder of one to see how thick it has got rather than pulling a few to find out.
They taste better after a cold snap as well, because the plant puts sugar into the root, which is one of the few times winter does you a favour here.
If your first go comes up with six carrots and a lot of bare row, that is the germination, not you, and it happens to everybody. Have another crack at it with a plank over the top and you will be surprised.
Shop related products
- D.T. Brown Carrot All Season, 2000 seed pack. The forgiving one to start with.
- D.T. Brown Carrot Chantenay, 1000 seed pack. Short and stumpy, for heavier or shallower ground.
- D.T. Brown Carrot Topweight, 2000 seed pack. A long carrot for a deep loose bed.
- Brunnings Seed Raising Mix 5L. The fine cover that stops the row crusting over.
- Brunnings Potash Power 2.5kg. Potassium for root crops, without the nitrogen that causes forking.
Did you know we also stock loose carrot seed over the counter at $2.75 a packet, in Topweight, All Season, Chantenay, Early Nantes and a baby carrot pack, along with Dutch hoes, swan neck hoes and hand cultivators for getting the bed ready. None of that is on the website, so give us a ring on (08) 8536 4333 to check what is on the shelf.
The seed and the soil improvers are in the garden centre, and the D.T. Brown seed range is where the packets live.
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