Both carrots and beets are slow to emerge,. That is why many folks interplant radishes so they can remember where they planted them. They both benefit from using row covers to keep the soil moist. Old folks use to lay a plank over the row, until they started emerging

If your growing material contains a fair amount of peat moss and vermiculite, the soil should stay moist down where the root crops are growing.

Here is a link that might be useful: Sinfonian's SFG adventure

Planitl, what you may be thinking of is that carrots and beets are some of the earliest seeds you can plant. But, they take quite a long time to germinate at low temperatures.

Farmerdilla & Sinfonian have several ideas on maintaining a moist seedbed. I know how hard it is to keep that top half inch moist for small seed in an arid climate. Sometimes there's a very narrow "window of opportunity" to sow the seeds and expect good germination.

The clay coating on pelleted carrot seeds can really help.

Steve

I am also from AZ (Phoenix area) I planted carrots for the first time this year too, I covered them with shredded leaves. It must have helped because the soil never dried out, as long as I watered every day, and they did finally germinate! I think it took about 2 weeks though.
Good luck! I hope we both have yummy carrots this season.

Farmerdila is corect. A board on top of the row they will sprout in about 7 days. Usually no watering is necessary.

That's sometimes called a "carrot board", even when it's used on parsnips. :-)

Jim

planitl,

Good luck with your veggies. I'm also in Tucson and just started trying out some edible plants. I have plenty of cactus and succulents, but little experience with things that need nutrients and water.

Are your beds in full sun, or do you shade them? It'll be near 100 in four months, so I've started my experiment under the shade of a palo verde tree.

If I can keep the squirrels away, I might actually have a crop!

Good luck with the carrots. However I have been transplanting beets for years. Most of the time they come up rather thick. I wait until they are maybe 2-3 iy easyilynches tall. they are easy to move and make a wonderful crop. Try it. You will be suprised.

Glenn, I've always heard that you can not transplant beets but it is great news to me to hear that you do and that it works for you! I can see where it's impossible with something like a carrot because of the long root. But a beet (some varieties any who) are round.... I think I will give it a try :-)
Thanks!

Here is a link that might be useful: Ft2Garden.com

I never had much luck until I tried this. I planted my seeds, patted the soil down, and then I laid an old towell over the seed bed. I watered the towell using the shower setting on my hose. I could easily tell if the towell started to dry out and rewater it. In about a week or so I had nice little baby sprouts. I used a dark towell, just by chance, but that may have helped warm the soil.

Beets & carrots prefer cooler weather over really warm weather, though I would think the carrots will still do well when the weather warms in May. The beets may take a bit of a dive by June if you haven't picked them all by then. They are good crops to plant when in cools down in November. If you get them going before it starts freezing, they should make the chillier parts of the winter without a problem and you will have great veggies in Feb/Mar.

I've always had a terrible time with carrots and usually interplant with radishes. Pulling the radishes helps thin the carrots, too. Otherwise, as they suggest, lay a board over them to help keep the surface moist. Here I just sprinkle for a few minutes every couple days and it usually takes 10 days to 2 weeks to get the carrots up. With cool soil still, you could also put a layer of plastic wrap over the rows and tuck the sides in so they don't blow off. This will hold the moisture and the sun shining through the plastic will help warm the soil. Take it off when the seedlings start to appear.

Never had much problem with beets, they usually emerge in 7 to 10 days, a couple days after the radishes, but keeping the soil moist at the surface since they are planted so shallow will really help.

If the ground dries out for either of these, they can be starting to germinate and die off from dryness at that point and you'll never get emergence and never know why.

The towel trick is good, although I use burlap instead (my dog runs around the yard with a towel, but leaves the burlap alone).

If you have access to two+ply cardboard, you can lay it over the damp seedbed instead of using wood. Just anchor it with a few bricks or rocks.

Mulching the carrots helps keep moisture in. Last year I mulched them with clean straw that had been run through a shredder, and it was wonderful. I added just a thin layer at a time and let it build up.

Living in the desert, try to add as much organic material to the soil as you can -- on a constant basis. I lived in Las Vegas, NV, and that sandy soil didn't hold water until I tilled in a bunch of grass clippings and leaves. (I was the nighttime bagged clippings and leaves thief of the neighborhood.)

Sue

Dont forget carrots and beets need cool soil to germinate,refering to the soil tempature.I remember its pretty warm there sometimes in feb. LOL

Dont forget carrots and beets need cool soil to germinate,refering to the soil tempature.I remember its pretty warm there sometimes in feb. LOL