1 lb. of Carrots for dinner

gary350

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This is carrots I grew 1 year ago in 10 gallon pots. About 500 seeds and water 3 times a day. 90% potting soil 10% garden soil. Do not thin plants eat the largest carrots to make room for smaller carrots to grow larger.


Carrots.jpg
 
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Tundra20

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question do yal mulch the carrots to help with mositure this may have been answered if so im sorry in advance
 

Meadowlark

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I use a generous mix of composted cow and Sunn Hemp to make my carrot beds...and don't normally add anything after germination.
 

Meadowlark

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@Tundra20 , I have found this technique to be very viable for stagger planting carrots...growing a few dozen at a time followed by more, etc.

Amazon offers carrot seed tape...seeds from Burpee and I usually get the Nantes variety.

With this you can easily plant very few seeds at a time and avoid wasting seed and overcrowding and thinning. You can precisely control the supply to what you want when you want it and can closely monitor germination and moisture.

I still grow a main crop for canning, but for everyday carrots supply, this is hard to beat...
carrot seed tape.jpg
 

gary350

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50 years ago I was taught to till garden soil in fall about Nov mark it with 2 stakes then pull a string between the 2 stakes. When first winter snow comes sprinkle carrot seeds along the string you can see the location of all the seeds laying on the snow. When weather gets right seeds grow. Sprinkle wood ash on carrot plants for fertilizer. Let carrots grow until Nov or Dec. Cold weather makes carrots tender and sweet. This works but I was still learning how to grow a larger crop of carrots, experimenting with different varieties, etc. I wanted a larger crop of carrots. If seed pack is $3 and it grow 20 carrots is not enough carrots for the year.

I learned to buy bargain seeds Farmer co-op has 2 oz of seeds = 40,000. seeds about 1% will germinate and grow 4000 carrots. Then I learned growing in 10 gallon pots of potting soil gives better germination but still not many carrots for the kitchen.

Then I saw a YouTube video how commercial carrot seeds are grown on hills so I did that and it works great. I planted my 40,000. seeds Sept 4 and about 4000 carrots grew. I finally learned how to get a good crop of 4000 carrots but I think it would be best to plant seeds about Feb. 1st instead of Sept 4. I also think it will be best to learn what variety of carrot grows best for us and which variety we like the flavor of best. I don't have good luck with Danvers I think I may have grown Nans this year but I forgot to write down notes.

I grew some Red color carrots for the first time this year, WOW flavor is amazing and carrots grew long much better crop of Red carrots vs Orange color carrots. If Farmers Co-op has 2oz of RED color carrot seeds for $8 I will buy them other wise I will buy 1oz RED color carrot seeds for $20 on Ebay. I am using 0-20-20 fertilizer plus a tiny about of nitrogen not sure yet what fertilizer is best other than low nitrogen.
 
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gary350

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Today I dug up 3 ft of our 120 ft of carrots. Tops froze off in 4° f weather and tops are starting to grow back. Carrots are still small seeds should have been planted March 1st then harvest Dec 30, Not Sept 4 and harvest May 10. Top end of carrots are green from sunlight I am cutting off all the green. Some of the carrots are full of tiny holes from worms or bugs, no bugs can be seen. I cut off all the bad. Some carrots have worm holes all the way up the center of the whole carrot is bad. We eat carrots mostly in soup and stew wife don't like carrots much unless carrots are cooked in some other food. I like to eat raw carrots pull up a few wash them off with garden hose then eat them in the garden. Dog saw me eating 4 carrots she wanted 1 so I gave her 1 and she ate it. I think maybe I won't grow any more carrots we just don't eat them very often. It was a fun challenge to learn how to sprout seeds and grow 4000 carrots. Maybe I will buy Red carrot seeds on Ebay they taste so good so much better than orange carrots wife might like them.


101_0770.jpg
 

oneeye

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Today I dug up 3 ft of our 120 ft of carrots. Tops froze off in 4° f weather and tops are starting to grow back. Carrots are still small seeds should have been planted March 1st then harvest Dec 30, Not Sept 4 and harvest May 10. Top end of carrots are green from sunlight I am cutting off all the green. Some of the carrots are full of tiny holes from worms or bugs, no bugs can be seen. I cut off all the bad. Some carrots have worm holes all the way up the center of the whole carrot is bad. We eat carrots mostly in soup and stew wife don't like carrots much unless carrots are cooked in some other food. I like to eat raw carrots pull up a few wash them off with garden hose then eat them in the garden. Dog saw me eating 4 carrots she wanted 1 so I gave her 1 and she ate it. I think maybe I won't grow any more carrots we just don't eat them very often. It was a fun challenge to learn how to sprout seeds and grow 4000 carrots. Maybe I will buy Red carrot seeds on Ebay they taste so good so much better than orange carrots wife might like them.


View attachment 107386
Those are beautiful friend.
 

Heirloom farmer1969

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Today I dug up 3 ft of our 120 ft of carrots. Tops froze off in 4° f weather and tops are starting to grow back. Carrots are still small seeds should have been planted March 1st then harvest Dec 30, Not Sept 4 and harvest May 10. Top end of carrots are green from sunlight I am cutting off all the green. Some of the carrots are full of tiny holes from worms or bugs, no bugs can be seen. I cut off all the bad. Some carrots have worm holes all the way up the center of the whole carrot is bad. We eat carrots mostly in soup and stew wife don't like carrots much unless carrots are cooked in some other food. I like to eat raw carrots pull up a few wash them off with garden hose then eat them in the garden. Dog saw me eating 4 carrots she wanted 1 so I gave her 1 and she ate it. I think maybe I won't grow any more carrots we just don't eat them very often. It was a fun challenge to learn how to sprout seeds and grow 4000 carrots. Maybe I will buy Red carrot seeds on Ebay they taste so good so much better than orange carrots wife might like them.


View attachment 107386

Today I dug up 3 ft of our 120 ft of carrots. Tops froze off in 4° f weather and tops are starting to grow back. Carrots are still small seeds should have been planted March 1st then harvest Dec 30, Not Sept 4 and harvest May 10. Top end of carrots are green from sunlight I am cutting off all the green. Some of the carrots are full of tiny holes from worms or bugs, no bugs can be seen. I cut off all the bad. Some carrots have worm holes all the way up the center of the whole carrot is bad. We eat carrots mostly in soup and stew wife don't like carrots much unless carrots are cooked in some other food. I like to eat raw carrots pull up a few wash them off with garden hose then eat them in the garden. Dog saw me eating 4 carrots she wanted 1 so I gave her 1 and she ate it. I think maybe I won't grow any more carrots we just don't eat them very often. It was a fun challenge to learn how to sprout seeds and grow 4000 carrots. Maybe I will buy Red carrot seeds on Ebay they taste so good so much better than orange carrots wife might like them.


View attachment 107386
I've been wanting to grow a good crop of carrots forever but seem to just never get the time.
My mother could grow a huge crop every year with seemed like little effort.
Best I remember, she always planted them in long raised beds so that's probably the way I will go.
I was trying to remember which kind she grew but wasn't having much luck until I cleaned out her old gardening shed and found a bunch of tender sweet packages. I got several seed pack of them at our local county coop Monday and now, just trying to figure the best time to sow.
 

gary350

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I've been wanting to grow a good crop of carrots forever but seem to just never get the time.
My mother could grow a huge crop every year with seemed like little effort.
Best I remember, she always planted them in long raised beds so that's probably the way I will go.
I was trying to remember which kind she grew but wasn't having much luck until I cleaned out her old gardening shed and found a bunch of tender sweet packages. I got several seed pack of them at our local county coop Monday and now, just trying to figure the best time to sow.

March 1st is the best time to plant carrots seeds in TN they need to stay wet for 1 month to germinate. We have a very short spring in TN and this year temps are 20°f above average it was 80° yesterdays, 60° is average, 80° again today. Plants seeds 6 weeks before last frost works good for TN. Once 25 years ago I mixed construction sand with garden soil in a 3'x4' bed sprinkled seeds on soil surface then cover seeds with 1" of sand then kept them wet for 1 month. I had lots of large carrots don't remember what carrot I plants then. I planted seeds in a 10 gallon pot of potting soil several times that soft soil grows larger carrots. Sept 4, 2025 I planted the carrots I have now soil is hard carrots are small but carrots might grow larger by May 1st when I need to dig them all up to plant corn. Carrots in pots freeze and rot if too cold move them into the house if you can. I never thin carrots I pull up and eat the largest carrots first to make room for smaller carrots to grow larger. Too much nitrogen makes carrots get, bent, forked and twisted with harry roots. Carrots are a 9 month crop in TN March 1st to Dec 30. TN is 100° desert June to Sept carrots get woody but become soft and sweet again in cold weather. Red carrots have several times better flavor than orange carrots.

 
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