Growing your own organic carrots at home is easy and can provide you color, flavor and nutrition. This popular root vegetable performs best in cool temperatures "between 60-70˚F" and may be planted as soon as the soil can be worked in early spring.









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.





. How to grow Organic Carrots .

Carrots take between 70 to 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.











. Preparing the soil .

Well preparing your carrot bed before for planting the seeds is a crucial step for your overall success. Select a site in the garden in full sun or very light partial shade and prepare the soil with ample amounts of organic compost.





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 beds 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 loose 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.

.

. Carrot seedlings will sprout in 1 to 2 weeks.

. Keep them continuously moist until they sprout.

. A constant supply of water is essential for germination.





. How to thin out carrots . It's so important to thin carrots, they will not grow to maturity unless they have space to do so. Carrots need about an inch of space all around to develop properly. To thin, hold the plant between your forefinger and thumb at the soil level. Pull firmly to dislodge the entire plant from the soil by the root. Mound more soil around the roots of the leftover plants. Carrots will discolor if the top of their root is exposed to sunlight. If you are very careful in extracting carrot seedling from the row, you could transplanting it into a new row and watering it to help it establish itself again. Repeat the thinning in three to four weeks.





. 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 . Weed carefully and cultivate lightly near carrot plants. Add mulch about six weeks after sowing to prevent exposing the roots to the sun, which gives them a bitter taste. Carrot plants need little attention during their growth period, although the plants should be kept well watered because too little water results in coarse, woody roots.

. 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.





To prevent carrot rust fly :

Alternatively grow companion plants such as leeks next to your carrots to confuse carrot flies. Carrot flies are notorious for damaging the roots. To prevent this flying insect just cover the ground with a garden fleece immediately after sowing. Take care to secure the edges of the cover so there are no gaps. Keep covers in place throughout the life of the crop. Maintain crop rotation every 3 years of all crops within the carrot family (Apiaceae). . 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.













Carrots are an easy, rewarding crop to grow, but you need to have the patience to let them mature. You don’t need much space to grow this satisfying crop all summer long, so why not start now and enjoy some organic carrots!





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