Daucus carota subsp. sativus

Carrots are related to celery, dill, fennel, parsley, and parsnip. I always felt carrots were a tricky vegetable to grow. I am impatient and carrots can require a lot of care and weeding. Unfortunately I love carrots too much and not growing them is not an option for me. Fortunately I found methods that make success a snap without a ton of work. Orange, yellow, red or white, this is how we do it right.

My grow beds were made purely of wood chips filled from the ground up and aged for a few years. When the soil becomes perfect I can direct sow carrot seeds by raking off the large bits on top to expose the fine underlayment. Within three years the worms will have moved a lot of dirt up into the mulch and everything is broken into a fine black grow medium free of rocks. The wood chips have all composted into a beautiful black soil.

My soil might look like dirt but a few years ago it was a heaping pile of tree mulch 4 ft deep. Today it is only 1 ft deep and chock full of dirt thanks to worm casting. Worms can shift an awful lot of soil up from below so yes there is dirt in it now but it is super soft and fluffy and nutrient dense and 100% free of rocks. Adding layers of proper mulch each year is all that is required to amend my soil. It is still full of organic material which corn loves too. You can see my happy corn it the distance is 3 shades darker than the corn in the foreground.

My carrots last year (closest grow box on the left)

Wood chip soil is always damp and soft. The wood chips that were on top did not compost because they are exposed to the air and act as a protection to the soil beneath. I don’t like to remove these large bits but I make an exception for carrots.

It’s not necessary to rake it too fine but I like perfect carrot beds. Use the rake to make shallow indents with rows about 8” apart.

After the impressions are made, it’s worth taking the time to carefully drop one seed per dent. This only takes an hour out of the WHOLE year and saves a ton of thinning later. It’s a fun family activity and a valuable lesson in patience for the kids.

With a long board, burry the seeds 1/4” deep by raking the dirt flat.

Once the seeds are covered we need to blanket the ground for moisture retention. Some crops such as, asparagus and potatoes, come right up through hay but delicate carrot sprouts will get choked out by hay. Instead, I use a blanket of wet burlap and check under it often. Once they sprout you need to remove the blanket. Carrots will soon outgrow weeds but you may need to help them once a week until they start shading the soil. hay, leaves or mulch can then be periodically added between rows to smother weeds.