Carrots are a biennial crop that is grown as an annual. The first season, carrots grown from seed produce tasty roots. Left in the ground for another season, the plants “bolt” stems elongate, and flowers blooms. By early summer, the carrot plants left in the ground will form many beautiful umbel-shaped flowers. A single carrot plant may have many flowers. The outer flowers mature first, though the flowers in the core have the most fertile pollen. Each flower has five sepals, five stamens and two carpels. Each carpel has two ovules.
Watch The Beautiful Carrot Umbel Flowers Video
How to grow Organic Carrots
Carrots take between 70 and 80 days to reach full maturity, so patience is needed to harvest. It can take the seeds about ten days to sprout, sometimes much longer if the seeds are covered in clay. Patience and careful watering are needed during this time.
Always choose the Best Carrot Seeds that you can grow in your climate
There are a wide variety of shapes and sizes of carrots you can grow, depending on your climate.
These are the five major categories that all carrots can be divided into:
Nantes: a fast and easy to grow in a wide range of climates and soils.
Chantenay: develop short, stocky roots that get sweetest in the late fall.
Miniature: small carrots that form shallow roots that are sweet and tender.
Imperator: delicate carrots that need deep, sandy soil to thrive.
Danvers: sturdy storage carrots that do well in a root cellar and are great for juicing.
Chantenay: develop short, stocky roots that get sweetest in the late fall.
Miniature: small carrots that form shallow roots that are sweet and tender.
Imperator: delicate carrots that need deep, sandy soil to thrive.
Danvers: sturdy storage carrots that do well in a root cellar and are great for juicing.
Preparing The Soil
1. Remove all obstacles from your plant’s roots. You can do this by double diggin the planting area a foot deep, or you can build up a raised bed with high-quality soil. Your goal is to achieve loose, rock-free soil filled with plenty of organic compost mixed in the top few inches.
2. If you have clay soil you will need to amend it by adding some sand and loam into the top, and by working all together you will lose the clay!
Just remember that if your soil is loaded with nitrogen, this will produce more foliage than root, so make sure that your soil is balanced before you plant!
How to Plant Carrot Seeds
You can start sowing carrot seeds in the garden two weeks before the last frost date, and then continue planting every three weeks until midsummer. If you plant a new patch as soon as the old one is established, you will be able to eat fresh carrots all the year.
- First rake the planting area. Keep it free of lumps and stones and broadcast your seeds.
- Cover the seeds with a quarter inch of soil and water your patch carefully so not to blast out the seeds.
- Carrot seedlings will sprout in 1 to 2 weeks.
. A constant supply of water is essential for germination.
How to Thin Out Carrots
Watch How to Thin Carrots Video
How to Harvest Carrots
Mature carrots will be ready in about 2 months. Water the bed before harvesting to loosen the soil and make the carrots easier to extract. Once your carrots are ready, harvest your carrots by pulling them from the soil. The best way to do this is to grasp the top of the carrot and give them a good tug. If this doesn't work, you can use a narrow trowel to pry the carrots out of the ground. Cut the green tops off immediately, as they cause the carrot to dry out and shrivel if left on too long. After harvesting, remove the carrot tops to prevent moisture loss and store them in the refrigerator.
How to Care for Carrots
Carrot Diseases
Several leaf blights can reduce the yield and the quality of your carrot crop.
Common carrot leaf blights include:Alternaria blight
Brown-black lesions edged with yellow on leaf margins. Alternaria blight causes leaflets to curl, become dry, and eventually die.
To help reduce risk of damage:
- Choose resistant variety.
- Reduce water on leaves by watering only in the morning or by employing drip irrigation.
- Do not overcrowd rows.
- Avoid applying excessive nitrogen, as this can lead to overabundant leaves and reduced air flow around the tops.
Carrot Pests
Carrot Rust Fly
Carrot rust fly is not an issue everywhere. Damage seem to be more prevalent in temperate regions. Fly larva are problematic because they burrow into carrot roots, rendering them unmarketable.How to prevent carrot rust fly!
How to Collect and Store Carrot Seeds
Carrots are a biennial plant, they don’t flower or make seeds until their second year of growth. Carrots will cross-pollinate, so you want to keep your seed carrots a quarter mile away from other varieties. When the flowers have formed seed clusters that ripen and turn brown, you can easily collect them in a paper bag and allow them to dry for another week before crushing the clusters and gathering each seed. Try to keep only the largest seeds and store them in a cool, dark place. Your carrot seeds will be viable for another three years, and you will enjoy growing your own organic, healthy and tasty carrots.
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