Fresh carrots are one of my favourite vegetables to grow from seed. For one, they’re easy to grow just about anywhere, from in-ground gardens to raised garden beds to a container on your balcony.
Second, you can grow a pretty substantial amount of carrot plants in a fairly compact space, making them a great candidate for urban gardeners and apartment homesteaders as well as traditional homesteaders looking to maximize their harvest out in the country.
Third, these reliable root crops are a crowd pleaser. There are so many different varieties and fun heirloom and hybrid types of carrots to try growing. From white carrots to purple carrots to the standard, bright orange carrots that we all know and love, these humble root vegetables are sure to look gorgeous on your dinner plate.
Plus, harvesting carrot plants is always so much fun because, unlike vegetables that grow above ground, you never know quite what you’re gonna get when you pull up a carrot root! Sometimes you get nice big, straight carrots. Other times you get some pretty interesting shapes and sizes, or shorter roots, . And if you grow Rainbow Blend carrots, well then you never know what colour you’re gonna get either! (Purple carrots are my personal favourite).
But homegrown carrots definitely weren’t always one of my favourite vegetables to grow. In fact, the first year we tried to grow carrot seeds, we managed to kill every single one! We had no idea what we were doing when it came to starting seeds. We started our carrot seeds indoors when we lived in our condo in the city with no real plan as to where we would move them to later. Plus, it’s best to just direct sow carrot seed into their forever home right in the garden soil, as carrot seedlings don’t transplant well. But we didn’t know what we didn’t know!
Then we overwatered them to the point of basically drowning some of the carrot seeds and seedlings and then forgot about them in our spare bedroom for long enough that any little carrot seedlings that had survived the flood most definitely did not survive the drought that followed. Oh, and I think we started them in like, June or something…NOT the best time. No bountiful carrot crop for us!
My point is, carrots really aren’t that difficult to grow, but if you don’t know what you don’t know, then you could have a similar carrot-growing experience to our first one. And that might make you never want to try growing carrots again. And I just can’t let that happen on my watch!
So if you’re new to gardening or growing carrots from seed (or you just need a refresher on the specs), here’s a step-by-step breakdown of exactly what you need to do to have success with your homegrown carrots. Because it really isn’t that difficult! Here’s what to do…
How to Grow Carrots From Seed
The Basics:
- Prepare soil in the early spring. It’s a good idea to remove any rocks or hard clumps that could prevent the carrot root from growing straight down
- Water the soil deeply before planting to help keep it moist
- Direct sow carrot seeds starting from about two weeks before your average last frost date right into midsummer for a fall/winter harvest
- Sow seed about 1/4 of an inch deep and about a 1/2 inch apart
- Sow carrot seeds at three-week intervals for a continual harvest (this is called succession planting)
- Stop sowing seeds about 10 to 12 weeks before your average first frost date
- Carrot seeds can take up to three weeks to germinate, so be patient!
- Keep the top couple inches of garden soil moist while seeds are germinating
- Thin carrot seedlings to about 2 or 3 inches apart as they begin to grow
The Details:
Since carrots are root vegetables, they do best in well-worked, loose soil free from rocks and other obstructions that might prevent the carrot root from growing straight down. If you’re planting in the ground, till the soil to a depth of about 10 to 12 inches and remove any rocks and debris. If you’re planting in containers, be sure to run a hand cultivator or rake through your soil to loosen it up and remove any debris.
Water the soil surface where you’ll be planting your carrot seeds thoroughly in order to help keep the soil moist. Since carrot seeds can take up to three weeks to germinate, keeping the garden soil very moist during the first several days is a very important thing.
Direct sow carrot seeds outdoors any time from about two weeks before your average last frost date until about 10 to 12 weeks before your average first frost date for fall and winter crops. Continue sowing seeds every three weeks or so for a continual harvest through summer and fall. Succession planting of carrots can follow pulling up your peas, radishes, and other spring crops. I love using the SeedTime app for succession planting as it helps me easily create and stay on top of my planting schedule.
Keep the top couple inches of soil moist for for at least the first 10 to 14 days, and continue to monitor moisture levels until carrot tops begin to sprout.
If planting in the summer when it’s hot and dry, you might want to place something on top of your planting area such as a row cover or plastic bag in order to keep the soil moist until seeds begin to sprout.
Once carrot tops are a couple inches tall, start to thin the seedlings to about 4 or 5 inches apart. Thinning can be hard because instinct tells you to keep all of the seedlings for more carrots later on, but if you don’t give the carrot seedlings enough space, you’ll end up with spindly, barely edible carrots when it comes time to harvest. Instead, thin seedlings out and give them space to grow and you’ll be rewarded with much bigger carrots in the end, which means more actual food for you and your family!
Harvesting and Storing Carrots
The Basics:
- Harvest carrot plants anywhere from around 60 to 100 days (check individual seed packets for specific instructions)
- Harvest fall and winter carrots before the ground freezes
- To store carrots, remove tops and brush dirt off, but do not wash
- Store in the fridge or in a cold/root cellar
- For optimum long-term storage, bury fresh carrots in sand in a wooden crate or box in a root cellar or garage
The Details:
Carrot plants can technically be harvested and eaten at any point in time, even as baby carrots. But you’ll probably want to wait at least 60 or 70 days for most varieties and up to 90 and even 100 days for others. Check the time to maturity on each individual seed packet to get specific information for the particular carrot variety you’re growing so you can harvest full size carrots at peak freshness.
While carrots are actually biennials (meaning they don’t produce a flower to collect seeds from until the following spring), if you are harvesting them for their roots, you’ll want to remove them from the ground before the ground freezes. A light frost will actually make carrots sweeter, but a hard freeze can affect the quality.
To store fresh carrots, brush off any excess dirt and remove the carrot tops to keep them from rotting. The carrot tops are also edible, in case you didn’t know. You can turn them into a pesto or add them to soups and salads. Chickens, rabbits, and other livestock also love to eat carrot tops – so don’t let them go to waste!.
Store fresh carrots in a cool place. If you only have a relatively small bunch, you can store them in the refrigerator. If you’ve got a more substantial amount, it’s best to store them in a root cellar if you have one. If not, you can store them in the garage.
The best way to store fresh carrots is to bury them in sand to keep them cool and moist. Put a layer of moist sand in the bottom of a crate, then lay a single layer of carrots on top. Then cover with another layer of sand and another layer of carrots until all of your carrots are buried and top with a final layer of sand. Store in the garage or root cellar.
You could also store in an outbuilding to keep them cold if you have no other choice, but it should be well protected from rodents and other critters looking for an easy meal in the winter.
If you’re in an apartment or smaller space but you manage to grow enough carrots to preserve (or even if you just pick some up from your local farmers market), but you don’t have a root cellar or garage and your fridge isn’t large enough, you can also pickle, pressure can, dehydrate, ferment or blanch and freeze carrots. So don’t worry. There are lots of storage options!
Plant Carrot Seeds Now for an Abundant Harvest this Summer and Fall!
Carrots are easy and rewarding root vegetables to grow from seed. All you need is a little space and a bit of patience while you wait for them to mature.
There are lots of varieties to choose from, but here are some of my personal favourites:
- Nantes (classic carrot, quick maturing heirloom, good for storage)
- Danvers (these large heirloom carrots grow well in heavy, clay soils)
- Paris Market (small round heirloom carrots, great for container gardening)
- Rainbow Blend (multi-coloured hybrid variety, white, yellow, orange, and purple varieties – fun novelty carrots to grow)
P.S. Don’t forget to download a grab a copy of my printable seed-starting starting cheat sheet from my Free Resource Library!
To growing and thriving together
PS: If you need a little extra help planning your garden, Seedtime is a fantastic all-in-one garden planner and management app that I have personally used and loved. It can help you with timing, spacing, companion planting, and so much more. The best part is that the basic version is totally free (and actually quite robust!) Check out Seedtime here.
Wanna learn how to grow your own food?
Let’s face it: food costs are skyrocketing and only continuing to go up. Growing your own food is basically like printing your own money! Not to mention how much healthier and better-tasting it is. And you might be surprised by just how much food you can grow in a relatively small space.
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Over the past 10+ years, I’ve learned how to feed my family from our backyard (well… front yard, actually!) on our modest quarter-acre property. Today, I grow hundreds of pounds of food for our family every year for practically free. Yes, there are some startup costs—but they pay big dividends for years to come. Investing in a garden is just about the smartest investment you can make nowadays!
If you’re ready to make that investment in your family’s food security, I’d love to invite you to join me inside my signature program, Seed-to-Soil.
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I can’t wait to see you inside:)
How do I plant cabbage or grow cabbage in my garden
Hi Evans,
Personally, when I have grown cabbage, I have started it from seed indoors. As cabbage likes cooler temperatures, I have planted the seedlings in early spring when temps stop going below freezing overnight (or a little earlier if I cover them). Remember to plant them with plenty of space between seedlings. They grow very large and take up plenty of space! To use space effectively, I plant lettuce and radishes between the young cabbages initially as these will grow fast and will be harvested before the cabbages get large. You can also plant the seedlings in later summer and they can become your fall crop if you have room in your garden. Succession planting is a great way to make the most of your space.
That is a good way to start and you can find more information and tips for your particular growing zone online also.