Carrots are an excellent vegetable to grow for a number of reasons;
1. Incredibly simple and easy to grow so a perfect project for young children to teach them where their food comes from.
2. Grow best in raised beds and deep pots so excellent for people with mobility issues.
3. You have never tasted a carrot like a home grown carrot and the different colours you can plant will be the talk of any dinner table.
So how to grow the perfect carrot?
First choose your type(s).
Here are just a few options;
Organic Dark Purple Pastanaga- This variety is originally from Mallorca and has a striking dark purple colour with a white core.
Kuttiger Carrot- You would be forgiven for thinking you had accidently grown a parsnip with this variety. It is a plump white carrot and has a mild taste.
John's Purple Carrot- Much like its name suggests, this has a light purple exterior and a yellow centre. It is an incredibly 'carrotty' tasting carrot though!
Karlena- This is your classic orange colour but has a very fresh taste and so is great for snacking on or using in salads.
Market 5 Atlas- These are great fun to grow. They look almost like large orange radishes. Due to their small and short size these are an excellent option if you don't have space. They will grow quite happily in a small pot on a windowsill.
Preparing the bed.
As I mentioned above a raised bed is ideal for this. It needs to be at least 30cm deep if you are not growing a dwarf variety. If the soil is not deep enough you will end up with odd shapes and stunted growth.
Once you have chosen your bed or pot you need to make sure there are no rocks or stones in the soil. If it is a small container you can go so far as to sieve the soil but for larger beds simply dig/till the soil and take out any large rocks or clumps.
When your soil is sufficiently rock free you can fertilise it using any non clumping fertiliser such as Westland Organic Chicken Manure pellets. Simply spread a layer on top of the soil and then dig it in evenly.
Sowing.
Carrots can be sown indoors earlier in the year but now it is warm enough that they can be sown directly into the soil outside.
The seeds are quite fine and so can literally be sprinkled on top of the soil and then covered with the bare minimum (about 1cm max) of sieved soil. Try to space them out to about 3-4 cm each. This can be tricky to do given their size but don't worry if they're too close as you can thin them out later once they have sprouted.
With this done you can water them gently, for pots you can use a spray bottle to mist them.
They should sprout in about 2/3 weeks, once this happens you can thin them out accordingly. After this however try not to disturb them as it will affect their final shape.
Pests.
Carrot fly can be an issue and you can spray for this should it become a problem with the likes of Grazers Cabbage White, Caterpillar, and Aphid spray. If planting on a raised bed they shouldn't be too much of a problem though as these pests prefer to feast on ground level plants. You can also companion plant chives alongside your carrots as the carrot fly is repelled by the natural oils.
It is as simple as that, other than some light weeding and some odd watering if planted now your carrots should be ready for harvesting in 12-16 weeks.
Happy Planting! :)
