Pseudo Garden: Carrots

 

Crop: Carrot 

Celebrate your Harvest in: 3ish months 

When to Sow: I’ve had success within this calendar as spring and autumn have always provided a sweeter crop. Carrots are a cold weather crop to harvest as it’s usually to chilly for seeds to germinate in winter. 

Jan

Feb

March

April

May

June

July

Aug

Sept

Oct

Nov

Dec

About Me: A root vegetable that likes deep soil, but not too rich as this can encourage splitting and mutation during growth. 

It’s a good idea to thin out* your carrots when they’re baby seedlings, about 4-5cm high. This will allow room for them to grow without bumping up against each other; if you don’t give them enough space you’ll stunt the buggers. Some gardeners like to do a second thinning as well a few weeks later, you can use these for salads and where tender thin carrots are required in the kitchen. A second thinning allows enough room for your carrots to grow mighty and thick. 

Sow your seeds directly into the soil, as carrots don’t really appreciate being transferred from trays.  

A trick to avoid the manual labor involved in thinning out is to sow your carrot seeds with radish seeds. So when the radishes are ready for picking you can harvest away whilst leaving room for your carrots to grow.

*Thinning out involves pulling out baby seedlings giving your maturing veg room to grow. The idea is to remove enough seedlings so those left have decent space to move and develop properly.

**I used Kings Seeds as a nice reference point for this post and my own know how ofcourse!