Carrots

harvested carrots
harvested carrots

Introduction

Loved by children, quick maturing, and available in a wonderful variety of colours, carrots are often chosen as one of the first crops to grow. Their natural crunchiness and high sugar content help make them one of the most accessible vegetables to introduce into a child’s diet.

Homegrown carrots taste different to shop bought carrots. The carrot taste is more intense, and the flesh less watery. Carrots are rich in beta carotene that is converted by the human body into vitamin A, which helps boost the immune system and fight infection.

Planting

  • Planting depth: 1 cm
  • Planting spacing: 7.5 cm between plants, 15 cm between rows

Harvesting

  • May to November
  • Unblemished carrots can be stored in a box filled with sand or fine soil
Sow
(inside)
Sow
(outside)
Harvest
(fresh)
Harvest
(stored)
January
February
March
April
May
June
July
August
September
October
November
December
= jar, = freeze, = store

Varieties

With carrots being so cheap in the shops, it is tempting to grow unusual carrot varieties. Carrots come in a variety of different sizes and colours:

  • Rainbow carrots
    (there is a range of skin colours from purple to white)
  • Colourful flesh carrots
    (deep purple and red fleshed carrots can have higher nutritional value)
  • Round carrots
  • Early carrots that go in the ground earlier in the year (protect with cloches or a growing tunnel), and mature quickly, but are often smaller than main crop carrots
  • Main crop carrots that take longer to mature than earlies, but usually end up bigger
  • Carrot varieties that claim to offer resistance to carrot fly (I have had mixed results with these)

By selecting early and main crop varieties, it is possible to enjoy homegrown carrots from early summer to late autumn.

FREE Planning App

The easy way for a gardener to organise their growing and discover gardening ideas.

Growing

With luck, a gardener's first attempt at growing carrots will go well and produce a good harvest, as fresh ground may be free from the notorious carrot fly. From year two onwards, carrots can be much harder to grow as a carrot fly attack can spoil a crop, resulting in ugly black wounds on the flesh of the carrots. The remedy is to grow the carrots at height, for example in barrels, troughs, or large pots (carrot flies are low flying) or protected by insect netting.

Do not overwater carrots as their long roots penetrate deep into the soil. Watering on a weekly basis is likely sufficient to keep enough moisture in the soil for the roots to swell to a good size. The distinctive feathery leaves of carrots make them easy to identify. Their low height encourages weeds to grow around them, and these should be removed regularly to keep the bed weed free.

It is easy to check whether carrots are nearing full size by gently brushing away some top soil, although their full length is only visible by digging up. Rather than harvesting all the crop at once, carrots are pulled up as required.

Carrots keep well, and if the soil is not too wet, the crop can be left in the ground through winter until needed. Mark the line of carrots (to remember where they are), and in particularly cold areas, you may like to cover the row with straw to protect from frost damage.

Gallery


Quick Links