Growing Carrots
Read this if you are interested in growing a little patch of carrots! Read it even if you aren't, it might change your mind :)
Why do I get so excited about this?
It’s way better flavor and nutrition than those in the store…a completely different creature.
You get to pick something fresh ALL winter long.
They are sweet and crisp when freshly harvested after frost.
They reseed easily and are simple to manage once you have your patch established.
I dug up about half of my carrots today (it was 100s of them) from my future U-pick flower patch and transplanted them elsewhere. We'll see how they do.
I was thinking again how grateful I am to have experimented with this and started figuring things out, and I'm excited to share what I've learned over the years with you!
Year 1
I was told by my mentor several years ago to plant carrots in the summer and then harvest them in the fall. I planted them and discovered that I could leave them in the ground all winter and pull them as I needed them! It was so rewarding and fun. They get crisp and sweet after a frost and you don't have to worry about storing them.
Year 2
The 2nd year I was all excited, tilled up a patch, and planted pretty late. They got super weedy, didn't get very big before frost, and never really did much.
Year 3
In the 3rd year, I tilled up a patch and planted carrots, kale, and some other fall things. The weeds got away from me again. In the spring, I went in and carefully weeded my poor sparse carrot patch. It was quite tedious. Then I mulched with straw. I planted some things in there, but let the few carrots, kale, and cilantro go to seed. All summer I kept up with the few weeds popping up here and there in that area.
Year 4
In July I mowed that whole patch and planted some rows of green beans and other fall crops.
Y'all…carrots, kale, and cilantro started popping up everywhere. 😍 Up until frost, I had beautiful fall green beans. When they died down, I was left with an abundant carrot crop!
What I've learned
Keep a permanent patch! Let it grow up over summer, let the bugs and bees enjoy the flowers. Then once the plants are dying and the seeds are ready, just mow it! (Around late July.)
Don't till!!! Tilling leads to compacted soil and it brings up new weed seeds! It is so hard to weed carrots. But if you keep up with the weeds in your patch that is just for carrots, it is unbelievably easy!
If you need to till your first year, it will be tough keeping it weeded, but push through…it WILL easier! Even if you only have a few plants that make it, let ‘em go to seed.
A tall raised bed would be an awesome way to do them! Amend the soil to keep it light and fluffy and they'll grow straight and long and be easier to pull.
Hit me up with questions!
Love,
Caitlyn Carrot Seed 😂
P.S. I canned and froze a lot less last year and have been trying to eat more of what I have available in my garden over winter, which is a surprising amount!
