Hi,

My beds are 6" tall and I planted Danvers and Scarlet Nantes carrots.

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The scarlet nantes are on the left and the stubby on on the right is a Danvers. The itty bitty one on the end right was a carrot from thinning. Other items included are a sweet banana pepper and a pickling cuke, harvested 7/9/06.

I've been pleasantly surprised with the Nantes, they're growing about 4-6" long. So far, all of the Danvers I've pulled out have been very stubby. What I'm most glad about with respect to growing carrots, was growing at least 2 varieties.

laura_42,

Just make a tier the size you wish for the longer carrots:

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Also, don't wait until spring! The best time to plant carrots is in the fall for winter harvest. So plant now.

The key to growing is not only variety, but timing. It is best to plant carrots for a fall/winter planting. If you plant enough and if you are in zones 6 and cooler, then use straw mulch and a cold frame. You can plant as many carrots as you think you will eat all winter and they will stay in the ground for you to harvest as you need them all winter.

The secret is that just as corn's sugars begin turning to starch immediately upon being picked... carrot's starches turn to sugars the colder it gets. So you'll have the best tasting carrots of any variety if you plant early enough fro growth in the fall and so that they get cold temps for storage right where you planted them. Better tasting varieties are French varieties.

BTW, an alternate option to going double or triple high with raised beds is to double-dig. Loosen the soil underneath. Maybe even lasagna layering the bed to get your resident worms to help loosen the soil underneath.

Danvers Half Long are reccomended for Colorado primarily because of the rocky, hard clay soil. If you are using Mel's mix you could probably plant just about any carrot. Danvers are great, though, and since they don't get as long as some of the other carrots, 6" should be fine.

Violet, I love the photos of your beds! Thanks for posting. Question: what material do you put beneath the higher-tiered boxes to keep them up?

Janice t.

my bet is dirt

I am a little confused about growing carrots. This is my first sq ft garden. It is also my first Fall/Winter garden. I think that I read in my area (Sacramento, CA Zone 9) that carrots can be done in three crops. One now (or Sept), November and another in February. Can someone familiar with similar zones please clarify this.

So far I have planted Danver 1/2 longs, Short and Sweet, Purple Dragon. I also purchased seeds for Tonda di Parigi. This small carrot looks good for stews.

In addition to having carrots in my sq ft bed, I am also growing them in Easi-Lift grow bags. These bags previously had tomatoes in them. I removed all of the roots and added compost to the mix.

Since this is my first year growing carrots, I nee to know if I am better off piching them to thin or pull them up.

shesalittlebear,

Carrots can survive frost, so I think those planting dates would be fine. I'm in zone 7 and started my fall carrots in August.

Thinning depends on how you planted the seeds. I usually end up putting 2-3 seeds in per hole, and I cut them with the scissors on my swiss army knife to thin because I don't want to disturb the other roots. If you are more careful with the seeds and they are spaced further apart, I think that pulling them up would be ok.

Hi alexjh,

Thanks for the advice. :-)

isoldesmama,

Those photos are not of my beds. I just posted them as examples.

It is best to plant carrots for a fall/winter planting. If you plant enough and if you are in zones 6 and cooler, then use straw mulch and a cold frame. You can plant as many carrots as you think you will eat all winter and they will stay in the ground for you to harvest as you need them all winter.

The secret is that just as corn's sugars begin turning to starch immediately upon being picked... carrot's starches turn to sugars the colder it gets. So you'll have the best tasting carrots of any variety if you plant early enough fro growth in the fall and so that they get cold temps for storage right where you planted them. Better tasting varieties are French varieties.

Agreed. Pinch to thin if close together. Otherwise, feel free to pull.

- my question is, could I get away with Danver's half long carrots in the conventional 6-inch box? (raised a foot off the ground) -

I assume you mean your beds have a solid bottom rather than being directly on top of soil?

If so, yes, you can grow Danver's half long, but not much else carrot wise without raising the profile.

Of course that really depends on whether you want only perfectly straight carrots! ;-) You can grow any carrot in 6 inches of loose mix, you just have to accept that any carrot growing longer than 6" is going to look funny.

Please don't be put off by building a frame to go on top of the bed though, it is really, really easy.

I built mine out of cedar 1x8" lumber. I just cut the board to size and nailed it together. There is no need to worry about structural integrity as there is next to no force exerted against the top frame when filled with Mel's mix or any other lightweight medium.

If you wanted you could just take an old rubber maid type tote and cut the bottom out and use that. Just set it on top of your bed, fill with Mel's mix (or simply any potting mix with compost added to it) and plant away any carrot you like.

How the longer carrots do really depends on the soil under the open-bottom box. Since I'm on sand (at least for a foot or so where the garden is), I am able to get by with a 4" bed and plant any carrot I want to. Over clay and "gumbo" it takes a while for the underlying soil to soften, but after a year or so longer carrots would also work there. In a case of minimal "dirt" over rock, well, in that case you are stuck growing carrots only as long as the bed and token topsoil

Belated update -- I ended up planting "Little Finger" carrots, and they were super delicious! And just the right size, too. I left a batch in the ground in the fall, so we'll see how they turn out later this spring...

I was told to pull my overwintered carrots because they would just go to seed this year. if you don't want to save your seed or it's a hybrid, you may want to pull them before the stalks grow.