How to.... Grow Your Own Carrots

How to grow carrots

Growing your own carrots is simple as long as you prepare the soil and take good care of the seedlings. Following is a step-by-step guide on how to grow this veg for yourself, enjoy it and save some money from your weekly grocery shopping

what your lovely mature carrots will look like :)

Preparation

A sunny spot is ideal for growing carrots. Once the spot is chosen, you should break up the clods of soil to create an aerated structure, removing large stones as you go along. Heavy, compact soil will make it difficult for the seedlings to grow strong long roots.

Manure shouldn’t be added to soil reserved for growing carrots. The nutrients in it are too much for them, a small amount of general fertilizer applied a week before sowing is enough. If the preparation is carried out beforehand, carrots will be ready for planting in March.

Sowing

Just before spreading the seeds, the soil should be raked over until it forms ‘tilth’ – crumbly fine soil. Mark a row with a twine or spade to create a 2cm-deep furrow. Seeds should be sown thinly – around one or two seeds each 2 or 3cm. then cover up the seeds and firm the row gently. If the weather has been dry a light watering can be given. Rows should be spaced 15cm apart.

tip : if you are as butter-fingered as I am, it’s best if you pour some seeds into your hand instead of sowing directly from the bag. Sparse sowing is essential to avoid too much thinning out later, as the scent of bruised leaves will attract pests.

Crop carrots take between 10 and 16 weeks to mature. For an early harvest, many gardeners sow fast-maturing carrots simultaneously with their main crop. Sowing them in alternate, labelled rows will make them easy to identify.

Thinning

Carrot seedlings sprout 2-3 weeks after sowing. Once they’re big enough to handle safely, weaker seedlings should be removed. When thinning carrot plants, great care must be taken not to bruise or break the leaved and stalks. This is because the carrotfly, a pest to the carrot, is attracted to the crop by the smell of bruised leaves. The discarded plants should be burnt or buried straight after removal.

tip: Some gardeners recommend thinning in the evening to reduce the incidence of the carrot fly. Firming and watering of the remaining seedlings is also said to reduce the incidence of this pest. Leaving 5-8cm between the remaining seedlings is ideal for healthy growth. Regular watering and hoeing down between the rows will keep the plants pest-free and healthy.

Stopping flies

Another pesticide-free control against carrot flies is using fine netting to cover the seedlings and the soil next to them. The carrot fly is around 1cm long, and fine netting will reduce the chance of it being able to lay its eggs in the soil around the carrot. Fly larvae hatch underneath the soil surface and feed on the carrots, resulting in a depleted or low-quality crop. Grass and leaf mulch may also deter the flies as it makes laying eggs in the soil harder.

Taking care of & harvesting young carrots

Early carrots are reading for harvesting 7-10 weeks after sowing. A tell-tale sign that shows carrots are ready for pulling is that the foliage will begin to wither. In time the average gardener will get used to the timing of different varieties and can also enjoy the crop when it’s slightly immature. You can always experiment by pulling up a few ;). In the weeks before harvesting the soil should be left moist at all times with regular watering. Evening harvestings are ideal to reduce the incidence of the fly… and it’s best to flatten the soil and water it just after harvesting. For further info, click here.. and also some lovely carrot-based recipes can be found here.

Adapted from Step by Step - How to Grow Carrots

How to... Grow Your Own Radishes

Next on our list of seedlings are the radishes :).. Don't forget to visit our stand tomorrow and up to friday between 9am and 4pm for your seed bag, and to check out the rest of the stand - we are on stand 1 (down from the quadrangle exit to the car park, to the right) - we are looking forward to meet you! : )

If you want an easy, stress-free vegetable to grow in your pot, then the radish is the veggie for you :)!

Here we will explain how to take care of these spicy and beautiful vegetables which can be ready for harvest in no time (usually in just a month’s time!). Another bonus for the radish is that it can be grown in containers very well!

So what are you waiting for? ;)

Radish needs a fertile, loose and well drained soil. Since radish is a quick crop, it is necessary that we use a good potting medium (so make sure you add compost!) to begin with.

For the small, red, roundish radish (like the ones you have in the Seed Bags) you can use a tray that is around 10 – 15 cm deep. Sow the seeds about 1 cm deep and place in full sun to part shade. Keep soil moist. Radishes germinate at lightning speed - sometimes in just a couple of days.

week-old radish seedlings

21 day old radish plants

Once the plants start growing, thin them out to provide 5 cm spacing between each plant. Add well decomposed compost (you can use vermin-compost, which we will speak of in another blog ;) ) after a week.

One month-old radish plants with vegetables poking out :D 

These radishes can be harvested when they are a month old, when a good sized top is poking out of the soil. Grip them at the base of the stem and slowly pull them out of the soil. To keep radishes fresh, remove the tops right after you pick them, then refrigerate.

If you want bigger ones, leave them for another 10 days but not more than that. If you delay harvesting, the radish will get starchy (with a hollow core) and will not be good. Radish leaves are also edible so you can also take few leaves for your consumption as they grow, but leave some for the plant as well. However be careful since the leaves of the red and roundish radishes will usually have tiny spines

Pests:

Flea beetles are quite common with radish. Since it flies and hops around, spraying insect repellents such as neem will not help. You can cover the crop with a mosquito net or insect proof net.

Flowers and Seeds:

When radish is left to grow, it will grow a flower stalk and start flowering to produce seeds.

Beautiful Radish Flowers

The seed pod is also edible! Let the seed pod dry and there you have seeds for the next season.

What seed-pods look like :) 

Written By Simone Cutajar

Adapted from geekgardener.in