![]() ![]() When you’re done, gather up the discarded seedlings and bury them in your compost pile. When thinning carrots, carefully pull the tiny seedlings from the soil or pinch off the foliage at soil level. Heavy rains can also cause seeds to wash and pool on the soil surface and come up in clumps. If I didn’t use pelleted seeds, there may be a few random clumps of plants that are in desperate need of thinning. At this stage, I try to thin the plants to about an inch apart, which usually means removing every second seedling. I start by gently pulling out weak or stunted-looking seedlings and once they’ve been removed, it’s time to thin the rest of the bed. Thinning carrots: how to thin carrot seedlingsįor me, thinning carrots begins when the seedlings are about three to four inches tall. Pelleted seeds (on the right) are coated in inert clay and their large, uniform size makes sowing the seeds much easier. Reduce the need to thin carrots by planting pelleted carrot seeds. The downside to using pelleted seeds is that most seed companies only offer a few varieties of pelleted carrot seeds so you’re limited in the varieties you can grow. Provide adequate moisture until seeds germinate and are growing well. This is convenient for market gardeners and farmers who use seed sowing equipment, but it’s also great for gardeners who will find the larger seeds easier to handle and plant. Pelleted seeds are coated with an inert clay which makes all the seeds the same size and shape. One of the easiest ways to space carrot seed correctly and reduce thinning is to plant pelleted seeds. My final carrot sowing is in late July and these are the carrots we harvest all autumn and winter from our cold frames, mulched beds, and polytunnel. ![]() You’ll need to keep the soil consistently moist while the seeds are germinating, which can take 14 to 21 days, sometimes longer.įor the longest season of high-quality carrots, succession plant every four to six weeks from mid-spring to mid-summer. Cover the seeds with a thin layer of soil or horticultural vermiculite and irrigate the bed thoroughly with a gentle spray of water. How? By sowing just two to three seeds per inch and spacing them as best as you can. This is your first opportunity to minimize the need to thin the carrot bed later on. I usually make the furrow with a finger or lay the handle of my garden fork on the soil surface and press gently. To seed carrots, make a shallow furrow in the bed, about one-quarter to one-half inch deep. If you have a cold frame or polytunnel you can plant up to two months earlier. Thinning carrots makes sure the roots have ample space to grow.ĭirect sow carrot seed in the garden in mid-spring, about a week or two before the last expected spring frost. I loosen the top foot of soil in my beds using a garden fork, working in around an inch of compost. If using manure, be sure it’s aged at least two years as the higher nitrogen levels of half-composted manure can cause carrot roots to fork or become densely covered in root hairs. Once you have seeds in hand and have picked a good site for your carrot crop, it’s time to amend the soil. And while I generally grow at least a handful of varieties like Ya-ya, Napoli, Atomic Red, and Imperator, I also love the many different rainbow blends of carrots, like Carnival Blend that offer a bold mixture of orange, purple, red, yellow, and white varieties. Or, baby varieties like Little Finger that have slender four-inch long roots. If your soil is shallow or heavy, stick to compact varieties of carrots like Red Cored Chantenay, which has short, thick roots that only grow about five-inches long. Of course not all of us have perfect soil, myself included, so I grow most of my vegetables in raised beds. If carrots are spaced too close together, there isn’t enough room to develop large healthy roots and they may become stunted or misshapen.Ĭarrots can be planted every few weeks from mid-spring to mid-summer to ensure a long season of super-sweet homegrown roots How to plant carrotsĬarrots grow best in a sunny site with deep, well-draining, clump-free soil. But why do we need to thin carrots anyway? It’s because carrot seeds are very small and it’s easy to accidentally plant them too thickly when sowing the tiny seeds. Thinning carrots is one of those tedious garden tasks that, although necessary, isn’t much fun. ![]()
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