Carrot plants Varieties of the world > How to grow carrot plants at home

How to grow carrot plants at home

Carrot plants are one of the easiest vegetables to grow at home.  Then great thing about growing carrots is that they are very productive and take up little space in the home garden.  A planting of a few square mtrs of carrots will keep the family in carrots for months.  Carrots can be grown in subtropical, temperate and cool temperate regions.   In subtropical regions plant carrots all year round.  In cooler districts plant in late winter or in autumn.   It takes around 3 to 4 months for carrots to develop.  Carrots can be picked anytime during the season, small carrots making a nice snack while weeding the vegetable garden.

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How to prepare the garden bed for carrot plants

Carrots should be grown in a well tilled ground.  Remove any rocks or large clods of soil as they will mishapen the carrot roots.   Mix in animal manures, mainly cow or sheep manure.   Carrots are grown in lines or furrows.  Pick a spot for your bed which gets all day sun and make sure that the soil is well drained.   If you have clay soils mix in organic matter and animal manures.  You may also need to add some Gypsum to break up heavy soil or clays.   When using Gypsum wait a few weeks before planting your carrot seeds.   Keep the soil moist. 

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How to fertilise your carrot plants

Apart from using animal maures during bed preparation, the use of NPK fertilisers is to advantage when growing your carrots.  This can be done just after carrots have started shooting up or a week after planting your seedlings.   You may need to fertilise a couple of times during the growing season.   Any good general purpose vegetable fertiliser will be sufficient, sprinkle it around the plants, however don't over do it.   Avoid nitrogen only fertilisers such as sulphate of amonia, as they will not assist in root development.   Carrots also do well on liquid fertilisers,  choosing a good seaweed based fertiliser will also enhance growth.  Use liquid fertilisers every two weeks or so.

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How to grow carrot plants from seed

Generally there are two ways to grow your carrot plants.  Note that carrot seeds are very small and planting them needs some focus so you do not plant too many seeds.  1.  The first method is direct seeding into your garden bed.   Make sure your soil is well tilled.   Make a furrow with a stake.  Shake the seed along the furrow and spread the soil back over the top of the furrow.  Seeds only need to be around 5mm below the surface to germinate well.  Keep the soil moist.  You may like to place a stake with a label say carrots as it can be difficult to see the developing plants till they grow larger.  Once your carrots have started to develop you can thin them out,  this means removing a number of the plants to stop over crowding.  Keep the soil moist.  It usually takes two or three weeks tor carrots to shoot from seed.  2.  The second way to grow your carrot seedlings is in punnets.  This is an effective way to use your seed to stop wastage.   Fill some punnets with some good seed raising mixture or potting mix.  Sprinkle a few seed over the surface and then place a little more potting mix over the seed.  Place the punnets in a warm spot and keep moist.  Once your plants have reached around 5cm tall, you can then plant out.   

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