How to grow carrots

Carrots can be sown outside in soil from around the middle of March until the end of June or July. Carrots will  germinate in 2 to 3 weeks and take between 2 to 4 months to mature fully, depending on the variety chosen. Check your seed packet for information on growing length of times and preferred sowing times.

Carrots need full sun. Chose a sunny spot to plant them in. 

Carrots love loose, loamy and sandy soil. So, before sowing the carrots, ensure the ground has been well dug over and is free of weeds and stones. If the ground is a bit hard or you have heavy clay soil, dig in some sand or peat into the soil to lighten the soil up, but not fresh compost or manure. In fact, carrots should not be grown on a patch which has been manured during the previous year.

It helps to use row markers and some twine to mark out the line along which you will grow your carrots.

Carrot seeds are very small and it's easy to sow to many. One way to avoid this is to mix the seeds with sand before sowing. Another tip is to mix the seed with radishes. The radishes will grow first and when you harvest the radishes this helps to thin the carrot seedlings. 

Sprinkle the seeds along the line about every 1 1/2 to 2 inches. And the make the rows 6-8 inches apart. (Once the seedlings are large enough to handle the can be thinned out.)

Cover the seeds with about a 1/2 inch of soil. Do not plant them too deeply. Planting them too deep will prevent them from growing. 

Water them generously. Keep the carrots well watered during dry hot weather.

Very gently cover the seeds with a tiny bit of soil. The seeds barely need 1/2 inch of soil above them to germinate, and the most frequent reason for a crop to fail to emerge is the seeds being planted too deeply.

Water generously.

When the time comes to harvest the carrots, use a garden fork to loosen the ground around the carrots before pulling. 

Carrots can also be grown in containers.








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