Quick start info on sowing carrots
When can you sow carrots?
There are five carrot crops with different sowing and harvesting periods. I'll list them for you and include the correct planting distances for each crop:
Super early: Sow under glass October-early February; harvest mid-March-May
> Distances: 3 cm between plants; 15 cm between rows
Early: Sow under glass February-March; harvest mid-June-July
> Distances: 3 cm between plants; 15 cm between rows
Summer: Sow outdoors in late March; harvest July-November
> Distances: 3 cm between plants; 15 cm between rows
Late: sow mid-April-mid-June; harvest October-mid-December
> Distances: 6 cm between plants; 30 cm between rows
Winter carrots: Sow outdoors mid-April-early July; harvest October-mid-December
> Distances: 10 cm between plants; 30 cm between rows
How deep should you sow carrots?
Loosen the soil well before sowing, this will ensure you get nice, straight and long carrots.
I always sow carrots in a furrow. I use my Hori Hori knife to dig a furrow in the ground. The sowing depth for carrots, and therefore the furrow as well, is 1 to 1.5 cm deep .
Sow and thin out or use a seed tape
Sow your carrot seeds closer together than the spacings above. Feel free to sow more seeds in a row than the final planting distance. When the seeds germinate and the strongest seeds take over, you can thin out young carrot plants to the correct spacing . The spacing between your rows must be correct from the start. You can find the spacing between plants and between rows above under the cultivation guidelines.
If you prefer to use a carrot sowing tape, simply bury the paper tape in the soil or keep it at the same depth and moist until the seeds germinate. You can find our collection of sowing tapes at this link.
And now for the complete growing guide with more details and subtleties about sowing your own carrots:
Carrots are easy to grow in the vegetable garden and contain numerous vitamins and beta-carotene. Give them loose, rich soil free of clods and stones, and a soil temperature between 8 and 29°C. Yes, you read between the lines correctly: You can grow carrots any time of year, even in winter with some protection or in a greenhouse . Especially in the winter in the greenhouse or early spring in the vegetable garden, it's best to provide some protection in the form of fleece or a blanket. Fleece is very light and highly insulating, so it's more suitable for protecting carrot seeds and mini plants.
Short carrots like Parisian Market can be grown in 60-70 days. Ideal if you want to grow carrots year-round.
Carrots are slow germinators. So be sure to have plenty of patience and consider running a hose over your seedlings. If you activate it briefly and regularly, the carrot seeds will never dry out and germinate optimally.
