Carrots have always been a hit or miss with me. This season I want to increase my odds. What did I do? I googled it of course. I found there were as many ways to do it than I really wanted to know.

Instead of reading every article, (they certainly cannot grow from the seed packet) I asked myself what solutions I needed for my particular problems.

Problems I Have With Carrots

Carrot seeds are so tiny that it makes it difficult to plant them evenly. Rows are very spotty and what do grow are grown in clumps.

What I Have Learned With Carrots

The soil must be amended and as fine and loose as one can have. I happen to have some clay in my soil making it challenging. Think of how long a carrot can average in length. That is how deep the soil needs to be fine and loose. After tilling my garden I took my potato fork and dug deeper. Then I used my mini tiller to make the soil as fine as possible.

The seeds are so small and need to be planted very shallow that the next challenge occurs. Seed blowing away or birds finding them.

This year what I plan to do is plant my carrots as shallow as I can. Then I am going to use up my seed starting potting soil to cover them.

I am also going to take it one step farther and use landscape fabric to cover the rows keeping them damp until I see the first sprout. This will help with the germination period.

Last But Not Least…

Carrots need lots of water. Therefore, this season I am going to plant them at the lowest end of my garden where I know water will set from my soaker hose.

Will This Work?

Time will tell. There really isn’t that much science to this. There can be if you want it to be. I choose learning a few new points that I didn’t know before, mixing it with water, tilling to keep the soil loose along the row, sunshine and some love to top it off.

Follow me along this season and watch how my garden progresses. Sign up to receive my post through your email for your convenience.

Happy Gardening!