Cool
season crop. Rated excellent for indoor and outdoor containers.
Carrot are probably a near-perfect plant for containers. The take little space, they really aren’t
fussy about temperature (even though they’re rated a cool season crop), and they’ll stay in the ground all long
time without spoiling. You can just go and pull one up at a time. In addition, carrots come in a variety of shapes and sizes.
YOu can grow long, slender carrots (Gold Pak, Imperator) ; medium, fat carrots (Royal Chatenay, Spartan bonus);middle, slender
carrots (Danvers
Half Long); short, slender carrots (Little Finger); and short, fat (Ox-Heart).
How to Grow.
Plant by scattering
the seeds across the container surface, roughly 1 inch apart. cover with about 1/2 inche of soil. after a few weeks, thin
to 2 inches apart (use the young carrots in cooking or eat raw). In large containers, plant half the crop ten days before
you plant the other half.
caution here. If the carrot tip touches the bottom of the pot, the carrot will not develop to
maturity. Simply make sure your container is deep enough for the variety you intend to grow.
For indoor containers,
plant any time. Outside you should plant carrot seed on the approximate date of the last frost in you area. You can then continue
to plant up to about sixty days before the first frost of fall. You can grow carrots all summer long except in the hottest
areas. If the summer sun is exceptionally hot on the patio (above 90 degrees), provide some shade.
4-inch pot Tips.
(by this he means width of the pot, make sure your container is deep enough for the kind of carrot you are planting). You
can grow Little Finger or Ox-Hear in 4 inch pots. Limit the pots to three to six Little Finger carrots, two to four Ox-Heart.
Under
Lights. You can easily grow carrots with two 40-watt fluorescent tubes.
Typical Problems. My carrots cracked badly.
This is a watering problem. If you let the soil dry out and water infrequently, the roots will crack open as they start
to grow again.
My carrots didn’t come up well from seed. You didn’t keep the soil wet during the germination period.. Try again. (Also,
this can be caused by using seed that's too old or was improperly stored).
Harvesting Tips. Start harvesting your carrots
as soon as they reach finger size. They’re delicious at this stage. Large carrots often become woody.
Again,
this comes from "The Apartment Farmer" by Duane Newcomb.
This year, I’m going to be planting carrots in containers
on the porch here to free up some bed space in the garden.
I can make
sure I have good fluffy fine soil too.
I’m
thinking about going ahead and starting the containers and keeping them in the greenhouse till I can safely take them outside.
I think the point to doom gardening is going to be extending not only growing space, but time as well. Starting
earlier, growing longer. For those of us not blessed with acreage, we are going to need to use every trick in the book to
provide ourselves with as much food as possible.
