A famously consumed root vegetable, carrot is a red-orange colored edible item with a sweet taste. This plant is native to Asia and Europe but is grown in many other parts of the world now. Carrots belong to sub-specie Sativa and are scientifically known by their name Daucus carota.
Growing carrots is an easy task if you have enough space with direct sunlight reach and loamy soil. They grow the best during spring and fall and do take months for their growth. Below is all that you need to know about carrot gardening:
Carrots Harvest Time
The harvest time of carrots depends on when you planted them. The most common harvest times are summers and during the fall season.
Carrots grow best in cooler times of the year like early spring or late fall. Hence, you should be growing them around 3 to 5 weeks before you expect the last frost of spring in your region. Grown this way, you can harvest the carrots in summer. Make sure you keep on sowing more and more seeds every 3 weeks during the spring. This helps you grow more carrots and maintain a consistent flow of the vegetable throughout the harvest season.
If you want the carrots to harvest in the fall too, you can sow the seeds in mid or late summers. In other words, you can start around 8-10 weeks before the first expected frost of fall to be able to harvest the crop when fall is in its full spirits.
Carrots are generally ready to be harvested when they are the size of a finger. However, you can let these stay under the ground till the beginning of winter if the soil has been mulched well.
Carrots Water And Light Requirements
Carrots do their best when grown in full sun, but a little bit of shade works well too. You should try exposing the portion of the plant above the ground to sunlight for at least 4-5 hours a day.
As for water, carrots do not need a lot of it. Just add around 1-inch water every day initially and then double the amount after the plants start growing.
How To Grow Carrots?
Growing carrots is rather a simple process if you know the chase well. However, it comes with a bit of responsibility, too, especially if you want to grow carrots that are perfect in their shape and size and yield more than enough to keep your stock up throughout the season. Below are the steps you must follow to get that perfect carrot yield in your garden:
Choose a site there is maximum sunlight reaching per day. However, a little bit of shade works just fine for carrots too.
Check whether the soil is suitable for the carrots’ growth. If it is not perfect, make sure to arrange for it. The best soil for carrots is a bit loose and loamy and is airy enough to make room for the needed ventilation as well as to allow for carrots pushed growth downwards.
Add fertilizers and organic matter and mulch the soil well.
Now, start sowing the seeds in the soil. Do not transplant them. Once the roots form, it is not wise to disturb the carrots.
The seeds must be sowed ¼ inch deep in the soil and each seed should be around 3 inches apart from the others. Also, the rows must have a distance of at least 1 foot between them so there is more place for the carrots beneath to grow.
Once you have planted it all, do not disturb or walk over the planted soil. Make sure it retains its moisture but only water it in a shallow manner. Do not let the soil harden or become crusty on its top. Cover the soil with compost to ensure no hardening over the top. Also, check the soil’s moisture from time to time. For this purpose, press a dry finger downward the soil. The finger must come out not extremely wet but noticeably moist at least up to the middle knuckle.
Lastly, have patience and give around 3-4 weeks for the carrots to show any sign of germination. Do not disturb the soil or experiment with the seeds too much.
Common Pests And Diseases
Like every other edible that you plant in your gardens, carrots also face severe problems in the face of some pests and diseases. You can easily control the spread of pests and ailments, provided you take good care of the plant and keep the soil well maintained.
Some of the common carrot diseases and pests are as follows:
Aster Yellow Disease: This is a common issue with carrots and results in short, abnormally small, and pale carrot tops. The disease also causes the roots to get extra hairy. It usually occurs when pests under the ground are feeding on the plant and then move from one carrot to another, thereby spreading the infection to several carrots. You can avoid this problem by pesticides and keeping leafhoppers away from the plants.
Canker, Wireworms, and rust Flies:These invertebrates also tend to harm your carrots. However, their control is quite easy as shared in the section below.
Remedies And Caring Tips For Disease Prevention
Here is what you can do to avoid any kind of disease and pests in your carrot garden:
Mulch the soil a little to speed up the growth and ensure needed moisture. Mulching also blocks the harsh sun rays to reach the roots and burn them.
Always thin the seedlings in a way that they are 4 inches apart from each other before the carrot starts coming out.
Always remove the weeds and other growths from the area surrounding the carrots without disturbing the roots as such.
Use a fertilizer that has low nitrogen but high phosphate and potassium levels. Use the fertilizer every 5 weeks after sowing the seeds.
Do not water the soil more than one inch per week initially. However, later you can increase the amount of water a bit.
