Carrot Growing Mistakes to Avoid for Success

by Jennifer Poindexter

Carrots. You either love growing them, or you hate it. There doesn’t seem to be much of an in between.

What if I told you, carrots are only viewed as a “complicated vegetable”, by some gardeners, because there are common mistakes many people tend to make when growing them? If you’re interested in learning about what you should try to avoid when raising this crop, you’re in the right place.

Here are the top common mistakes, and tips to avoid them, that many gardeners make when growing carrots in their gardens.

1. Using the Wrong Soil

Soil is one of the top priorities when choosing to raise carrots. Your soil may even determine what gardening method you use.

If you don’t have loose, well-draining soil, you might need to grow carrots in a raised bed or container garden. Without the proper soil, carrots might fail to thrive.

How to Avoid this Mistake:

When growing carrots, the soil must be loose. This is important because the carrots must be able to dig into the ground to form properly. It’s recommended that the soil be loosened approximately one foot beneath where you plant carrot seeds.

Be sure it’s also well-draining. If the water can’t drain away from the carrots, it leaves room for the crop to become soggy and eventually rot.

2. Plant Too Deeply

Many people assume when you plant seeds that they must be well beneath the surface. However, some seeds require light to germinate.

Therefore, they don’t need to be placed deep into the ground. Doing so can actually decrease the germination rate of the plant. Carrots fall into this category.

How to Avoid this Mistake:

You can avoid planting carrot seeds too deeply by gently tilling the bed and sprinkling the seeds in the designated area.

Gently cover the seeds with soil. It should only be a light covering because the plants won’t germinate properly if planted too far beneath the surface.

3. Not Using the Right Method of Watering

Carrots have unique watering needs depending upon the stage of growth they’re in. Understanding how to properly care for the plant is vital in its success in your garden.

Therefore, know how to water carrots correctly during their period of germination and also once the sprouts have formed.

How to Avoid this Mistake:

When you first plant carrot seeds, in their designated growing area, you should lightly water them for two weeks. This should be done on a daily basis.

This helps break down the protective coating over the seeds and encourages germination. Once the seeds have sprouted, and are growing carrots, you can begin mulching around the carrots and watering the plants deeply.

4. Transplanting Carrots

Many gardeners like to start seeds, early, inside their home. This allows them to transplant the seedlings into their garden once the temperatures are suitable.

Carrots won’t be one of these plants. The good news is, carrots are hardy vegetables and actually thrive under cooler temperatures.

How to Avoid this Mistake:

Carrots don’t like being disturbed once the seeds have germinated and are forming roots. Therefore, you should only direct sow carrots into their growing space.

However, you should be able to plant them once the ground is workable because they can handle cooler temperatures since they’re a root crop. Frost is known for making the carrots taste even sweeter. Some people will leave carrots in the ground over winter for storage.

5. Green Shoulder Carrots

You’ve made it past the planting stage and are beginning to see carrots form. The only problem is, you see the tops of some of the carrots.

Those tops are showing “green shoulders.” Is this a problem? If so, how should you handle it in the future?

How to Avoid this Mistake:

If the very tops of your carrots are green it means they were exposed to the sun. It shouldn’t harm your harvest. When chopping the carrots up, remove the green portions.

However, in the future, you can avoid green shoulders by ensuring the soil is mounded around the top of the carrot to limit sun exposure.

6. Expecting Perfect Carrots

Many gardeners feel disappointed when they raise carrots, and they look nothing like what you get at the grocery store.

There’s a good reason. Carrots in your garden bed frequently have obstacles to overcome. These obstacles can impact the shape of your crop.

How to Avoid this Mistake:

You can avoid this mistake by realizing that your carrots will have character. If your soil is harder than you might have realized, the carrots may be forced to grow in different directions to find softer soil.

If you have rocks in your soil, carrots might grow around them which will impact their shape. Realize that how a carrot is shaped won’t impact the taste, so it’s okay to have less than perfect carrots when growing them in your home garden.

7. Big Tops, Small Carrots

This is one of the biggest obstacles new gardeners are faced with. People like to fertilize their plants. They become lush, green, and look beautiful.

The downside is that every crop doesn’t require the same nutrients. It can have different impacts on the harvest that you won’t notice until harvest time.

How to Avoid this Mistake:

It’s okay to fertilize your carrots. You should amend the soil prior to planting, fertilize once the sprouts begin forming, and once per month throughout the growing season.

The catch is you shouldn’t use a fertilizer high in nitrogen. Instead, carrots need a fertilizer lower in nitrogen and higher in phosphorus. Nitrogen makes for large tops. Phosphorus helps the roots grow, and in this case, you’re harvesting the root of the plant.

8. Failing to Thin Sprouts

When planting carrot seeds, it’s difficult to provide adequate spacing. This happens because the seeds are tiny.

However, you must ensure each plant is given adequate room to grow. Failing to thin sprouts could impact your harvest.

How to Avoid this Mistake:

After your carrot seeds have germinated, begin to thin the sprouts. They should have a minimum of two inches between plants.

If you fail to provide correct spacing, the carrots will compete for nutrients. This can result in smaller carrots.

9. Pulling Sprouts from the Ground

Our final common mistake takes place after carrot seeds have germinated. It goes hand-in-hand with our previous mistake.

You know to thin your carrot sprouts, but you must also know that there’s a correct way of removing the sprouts from the bed to avoid harming the remaining plants.

How to Avoid this Mistake:

You know to leave approximately two inches of space between each plant. When you go to remove the sprouts, don’t pull them out of the ground.

By pulling the sprouts, you risk disturbing the roots of the remaining carrot plants. Instead, use scissors, to snip the unwanted sprouts away at soil-level.

These are some of the most common mistakes gardeners make when raising carrots. They aren’t a difficult crop to grow.

However, they do have specific needs and things which must be avoided to enjoy a bountiful harvest. Hopefully, these tips will help you avoid or overcome any hiccups you may face when adding carrots to your garden space.

Learn More About Growing Carrots

Carrots

https://pss.uvm.edu/ppp/articles/carrots.html

http://www.gardening.cornell.edu/homegardening/scenea765.html