Anybody like carrots
- Thread starter HmooseK
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digitS'
Garden Master
I will respond here although I don't want it misunderstood that I know something about gardening in zone 9 or growing carrots in containers. I don't.
Before we get any further from that May 26 statement above, I should correct something that might also be misleading. The last time I tried "fluid seeding" with cornstarch gel was with lettuce seed. I expected it to work well because it had done a good job for me with carrot seed. If you search in TEG for cornstarch gel you will find me telling about those experiences.
What I guess that I was thinking back in May was that I was trying to better space lettuce seedlings by using the gel. It was not successful! Carrots still had to be thinned when I used it for them. And, I really think that the gel isn't worth the bother for lettuce.
Carrot seeds don't germinate quickly like lettuce. They have to be just below the soil surface because they are tiny and yet, carrot seed takes weeks to sprout. Drying out can really lower the percentage of seedlings showing up when they finally do!
Cornstarch Gel greatly improves the carrot seedling numbers.
However, carrot seed is also available pelleted. Good News! Pellets are real help in having a good stand of seedlings. However again, making and using the gel isn't at all difficult
. By the way, I would not immediately run water on the soil after putting in the gel and seed. Give them a little time to congeal a relationship!
My biggest problem with carrots might be just the rocky soil that I have to grow them. Another problem is that DW thinks that they should be wonderfully long. They can be short and just as tasty! She is happy peeling long carrots but I don't think you even need to peel carrots. I'm willing to just scrub them to tear up that skin a little.
I think that I might grow a chantenay variety this year: Caracas. Chantenay varieties that I have had before must have been too inelegant for DW! Caracas is listed as a baby carrot so maybe chubby cuteness will make up for length ... I can also buy the seed as pellets
.
Steve
Before we get any further from that May 26 statement above, I should correct something that might also be misleading. The last time I tried "fluid seeding" with cornstarch gel was with lettuce seed. I expected it to work well because it had done a good job for me with carrot seed. If you search in TEG for cornstarch gel you will find me telling about those experiences.
What I guess that I was thinking back in May was that I was trying to better space lettuce seedlings by using the gel. It was not successful! Carrots still had to be thinned when I used it for them. And, I really think that the gel isn't worth the bother for lettuce.
Carrot seeds don't germinate quickly like lettuce. They have to be just below the soil surface because they are tiny and yet, carrot seed takes weeks to sprout. Drying out can really lower the percentage of seedlings showing up when they finally do!
Cornstarch Gel greatly improves the carrot seedling numbers.
However, carrot seed is also available pelleted. Good News! Pellets are real help in having a good stand of seedlings. However again, making and using the gel isn't at all difficult
. By the way, I would not immediately run water on the soil after putting in the gel and seed. Give them a little time to congeal a relationship!My biggest problem with carrots might be just the rocky soil that I have to grow them. Another problem is that DW thinks that they should be wonderfully long. They can be short and just as tasty! She is happy peeling long carrots but I don't think you even need to peel carrots. I'm willing to just scrub them to tear up that skin a little.
I think that I might grow a chantenay variety this year: Caracas. Chantenay varieties that I have had before must have been too inelegant for DW! Caracas is listed as a baby carrot so maybe chubby cuteness will make up for length ... I can also buy the seed as pellets
.Steve
Blue-Jay
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I love carrots. I like to grow the "Atomic Red". I think they have more flavor than most of the orange varieties. I ordered 5 packets yesterday from John Sheepers Garden Catalog. What I don't plant this coming season I will store in the freezer for future seasons.
flowerbug
Garden Master
@digitS' that is all i've ever done 99% of the time. scrub with a scrubby with a little running water. the only time i peel is when we do a roast. we eat a lot of carrots. we don't grow them here. i tried to grow some of the short and sweet ones and they did ok but Mom didn't really like them so i gave up.
thistlebloom
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This reminds me of another missed opportunity to sow fall carrot seed. I have Kyoto Red for just that reason. Dang.
I don't remember where I read it, but KR's taste better grown in the fall and overwintered.
The carrots that I overwintered not exactly on purpose, and not KR's, were really sweet when dug in the spring. So I guess I'm capable of doing that if I can just remember to get them in the ground.
I don't remember where I read it, but KR's taste better grown in the fall and overwintered.
The carrots that I overwintered not exactly on purpose, and not KR's, were really sweet when dug in the spring. So I guess I'm capable of doing that if I can just remember to get them in the ground.
digitS'
Garden Master
Wow, @thistlebloom !
Weren't they decaying from the top down by spring from freezing?
The only way carrots have come through the winter was buried into the ground and covered with a great pile of leaves.
Steve
Weren't they decaying from the top down by spring from freezing?
The only way carrots have come through the winter was buried into the ground and covered with a great pile of leaves.
Steve
thistlebloom
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No they weren't decayed/mushy at all! That's totally what I expected to find, but they were crisp and sweet. Big revelation moment. That's why I got the Kyoto Reds, because they are bred for that. The hitch is that they are long suckers, which was going to require a little more attention from me for preparation.
None of that run out in November and throw a few seeds around stuff.
henless
Garden Addicted
I love carrots. In fact, the whole family does. I have trouble growing them. I actually have quite a few growing now that I planted in the fall. I had a lot more that never came up. I end up buying them at the store and canning them. We don't like store canned carrots.
ninnymary
Garden Master
We grow a few carrots for the novelty of it. That big bag of organic carrots from Costco is pretty cheap! 
Mary
Mary
Collector
Garden Master
We had great luck with the pelleted seed last season no thinning and pretty descent crop from the rainbow mix. Only down side is the cost of the pelleted seed compared to regular seed. We are going with pelleted again this upcoming season also but going to plant a different variety, the rainbow mix were really not uniform as far as growing the same size and shape. Any recommendations on variety?
@digitS' , @thistlebloom , my grandparents used to plant a long row of carrots about 12”-14” wide with 3 rows of carrots. In the late fall grandpa would cover row with a thick layer of straw. Whenever grandma needed some carrots for the evening meal grandpa went out with a pitchfork and raked the straw off and dug a few up. They always ran out in mid February or so, not sure if they would have lasted all the way to May to plant more though maybe not.
@digitS' , @thistlebloom , my grandparents used to plant a long row of carrots about 12”-14” wide with 3 rows of carrots. In the late fall grandpa would cover row with a thick layer of straw. Whenever grandma needed some carrots for the evening meal grandpa went out with a pitchfork and raked the straw off and dug a few up. They always ran out in mid February or so, not sure if they would have lasted all the way to May to plant more though maybe not.
