Zone 7B
Sown April 9th
Raised bed w/ garden soil & Black Kow
Hi! First time gardener just doing this for fun! Fully started this garden because I was influenced and my algorithm was filled with carrot harvesting videos and I just wanted the satisfaction of pulling a carrot out of the ground 😅
I did some planning and at least 3 sources said to sow the carrot seeds starting in April for my zone. I had great germination luck with only 1 to 2 seeds not sprouting. They’ve been growing like a weed ever since.
However, we’re past the 60 day mark and the 80 day mark is this upcoming Sunday. I pulled one of the not so thick carrots today just to see what we’re working with and as you can see from my dog… we’re worried 🥲
I’ve been researching since I got home and it’s saying that carrots are cooler weather crops and we have had some +90° days these past couple of weeks. If that’s the case why do they recommend growing carrots into the Summer? Did the heat stunt my carrots? I just wanna have that good brain scratch by pulling a beautiful carrot 🥲
Thank you in advance 🫶🏻
by callieen
18 Comments
They look good to me, just need more time
How are they spaced in the bed? Did you thin them?
“Days to harvest” (on a seed packet) counts from the day the plant sprouts, not the day that you plant the seed. And carrots are a little slow to sprout. And seed packets tend to be optimistic. So you likely just need more time.
Our carrots have never looked distraught in bad summer heat, though they certainly like cool weather more.
If your carrots still don’t form roots in the coming weeks, your problem might have been excess nitrogen, insufficient phosphorus, insufficient potassium, or perhaps soil compaction.
Just give it time. Mine are just starting to bulk up
Just need more time. Carrots don’t mind the heat.
There might be others that are ready. Small carrots like that can be a result of not thinning around them. Carrots can also be deceptive, a lot of mine didn’t have the base sticking out the ground so it was hard to see how big they might be or if they were ready. We also planted in April and just harvested them today!
https://preview.redd.it/ew6hbmixn49h1.jpeg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=8682249c66f02b7d4fe0adacfb94d063413f1157
I typically plant in fall and let them overwinter to harvest in the spring.
That’s how mine looked when I pulled a couple on 6/11. They were slightly bigger than the ones pulled on 6/8. So I’m just leaving them and waiting since it looks like they are growing. I sowed mine on 4/13.
One year, I planted a row of carrots and I thought they were a pathetic and miserable fail. I definitely had a soil compaction issue (planted in a spot where previous homeowner had tons of rocks, bad idea.
I ended up just leaving it be. The carrots ended up overwintering and I actually had decent sized carrots the next year that tasted delicious.
The days to harvest is from when the seed has actually sprouted, not when planted, and is under ideal conditions. So, basically, it’s merely a guide.
You will see the top of the orange carrot as it matures, mine always stick out like a half inch. When the carrot looks about as thick as those carrots in the picture then you’ve reached the point where you might want to pick one to see if they are done.
Carrots can grow in the summer. However, because a light frost or two will actually make the carrots sweeter, the best time to plant carrots is for a fall harvest. If you time it right, the carrots will reach full size right before frost season and you then leave them in the ground for a couple light frosts and then you pull them.
Carrots do need space to grow to full size. If they are too thickly planted, each carrot plant will not be able to get the nutrients to grow a big carrot. I dislike thinning so I carefully plant my carrot seeds in a grid pattern with about 1.5 to 2 inches of space between seeds. Any seeds that don’t germinate will give the surrounding carrots more space for their roots.
Don’t give up. Pulling a huge carrot that you grew out of the ground is a really cool experience.
Carrots need calcium or potash in the soil for root growth. They are, after all, just a big root. A quick way to test the soil is to interplant a few radishes. They are also root plants. You will know within 20 day if the radishes are growing correctly and will have time to make adjustments for the carrots.
Watering: You need deep soil and deep watering. Try poking a hole into a 1 gallon milk jug fill it with water and just place it next to the carrots and let it drip. That will help them develop a deep tap root which will thicken into a carrot.
You still got time.
Carrots are a sh*tshow. Mine always take the *entire* growing season, from April or even March til August basically if not later. I don’t believe any seed packet garbage, I’ve planted 4 different varieties by now and they all take forever. I assume this is because i struggle with thinning, then again they’re such a struggle to pull up (I usually have to aggressively hack the soil apart with a trowel–no smooth bugs Bunny slick social media vids) that I kinda like hacking a.chunk of 5-6 out at a time. The only way to know if they’re ready is to excavate the top inch and see if they’ve gotten to the proper thickness. Don’t pull any that don’t have the top orange chunky and ready.
I planted carrots in SE MI on April 10. I figured 90-100 days at least from the time I planted. They took about a week to start germinating. And mine are still smallish, so…
Yeah definitely sow them way earlier than that—March 1st is a good date. They are indeed cool season crops.
You’re right, I don’t know why major gardening companies give advice that’s so far off from what your local planting calendar says. My guess is that they barely make a distinction between cool season and warm season crops, and just generically put the dates close to the last frost date. Which might work in northern Illinois, but is bad advice in most of the country.
I sew end of May and harvest early fall.
Man the leaves looked so good I had high hopes 😂
Share this in r/mightyharvest they’ll love it 😄
Just leave em if they are that small.
I never count the days with carrots.
I just look at the size and if I like it, they’re ready.
Just give it time.
My carrots went in the end of May and are just sprouting good now. I seed heavily and don’t thin, but I do “selectively harvest” once they start getting big enough. By early September I should start having carrots and I won’t pull them all until we are getting killing frosts regularly (late October). No overwintering here…too cold…. they all turned to mush in the ground.