CARROT WEEK HAS BEGUN!!!!

These carrots surely taught me a lesson.
I planted the carrot seeds on our designated day
in their designated square and then watered with
my water wand set on mist BUT
the little seeds scattered and I have them in
not so uniform a design. About half have come up.
I guess I will try to plant a few more and see what
happens....gee, maybe I should wait a little longer,
a few more may come up!

These are mine in the bottom center...I poke around under the soil and they still seem like tiny Vienna Sausage Carrots...is there another way to tell they're big enough to yank?

Finally able to plant carrots today. Able to set up by boxes this past weekend due to a break in the steady flow of rain over the past two weeks. Waited a couple more days due to fear that my seeds would rot in all of that moisture. Planted a square of Scarlet Nantes, along with Snow Whites and Parisienne (cute little nubby things!). We'll see what surfaces!

NaturesApprentice wrote:These are mine in the bottom center...I poke around under the soil and they still seem like tiny Vienna Sausage Carrots...is there another way to tell they're big enough to yank?

Oh man! Tell me you didn't plant these during carrot week? April 15ish? I have to put my cheaters on to see my Nantes just barely starting to stick their heads up.

The greens are going to get a lot taller before you want to pull them. But feeling around the carrot with your finger, and then pushing the dirt back in, is still the best way. Carrots don't ripen; they can be eaten at any size.

boffer wrote:Oh man! Tell me you didn't plant these during carrot week? April 15ish? I have to put my cheaters on to see my Nantes just barely starting to stick their heads up.

I KNOW!!! I was thinking the same thing! "Wait... mine just started thinking about true leaves!"

Oh, man. I posted here that my carrots had finally started sprouting - that was on Aril 26th and they have grown almost none at all since then. I just had 3 sprout at all and they're just kinda sitting there. Guess I might as well plant something else in that square! Oh, well, maybe I'll have better luck in the fall or for next year's Carrot Week. Glad to hear some of you are having better luck!

Sherreo,
Don't despair. Carrots sometimes take a lot of time to sprout and grow. I thought I'd never see carrots last year but in the end, I got a nice harvest before winter so I was satisfied.

I didn't get these few carrots until July 19th in Maine, zone 5a.
Harvested many more later.

Edited to add: This year I've seen a few green pieces poking thru the soil, but not much. I think it'll be another slow season for carrots but I'm not worried.

Thanks for the encouraging words, Quiltbea! I guess I'll hang on a little longer to see what happens. I thought it was a bit too late (warm) to be planting carrots here in south Mississippi, but I was talking to another gardener who's a friend (still a row gardener, but I keep telling him how great sfgs are!) who's much more experienced at gardening than am I and he said that he grows carrots here all year round! Not entirely convinced about that, but I'll see what happens!

again for your kind words!

Realy I might plant some before fall after all.

Hi Shannon, I'm not sure whether you were replying to my post here, but I definitely plan to plant some carrots for a fall garden! I just meant that I'll probably give this carrot square a bit more time to see if I see any further growth before giving up on them. Thanks!

Some of you have carrots whose leaves are getting pretty big already. I just wanted to advise that swallowtail caterpillars eat from the dill family - including carrots. They will NOT hurt your carrots!! They turn into stunning butterflies. And the caterpillars are interesting looking themselves. And if you touch them, they stick out orange "horns" as a warning. It might still be too early in the year for them, but if you do see one, he will look like this:



They will become this:



or this:




I have a few chrysallises from last fall that I hope will emerge soon. I grew dill and fennel for them last year. I need a new fennel as it didn't survive the floods. I don't care for the smell, but my daughter insists we replant it!

Are you seeing anything interesting in your carrot leaves yet?

Those are beautiful Nancy! I love butterflies. I would love to have some of those beautiful caterpillars amongst my carrot leaves. Of course, I would need carrot leaves first. Not even a sprout yet and it's been 3 weeks I think. Hmmmm... maybe the paper towel seed tape method didn't work for me.

Finally, a few teeny, tiny sprouts have shown up in one of the beds where the Ya Ya carrots were planted April 16. Not sure, but there appear to be a few showing up in the square where the Nantes Coreless are planted (also 4/16). Nothing yet where I used home-made seed tape for Nantes Fancy, around 4/25. What have I learned? In Western Oregon, it's just too cold in mid-April to plant carrots...they just hunker down and sulk, waiting for May, so note goes in garden planner to plant carrot seeds May 1 next year. This is the way we learn, right?

Since it didn't rain today, we went down to the garden after work. To my surprise, I had 5 sprouts coming out of the same spot! How they did that, plus surviving floods, I'll never know. I tried very gently to move 4 of them before the roots got too tangled. Time will tell. I know they don't care for being moved. I planted 5 more in the open areas of that square. Hurray for baby carrots!!

I've got a couple of green bits showing, but that's all so far.

Finally!

I sowed Early Nantes 5 on May 14th and now I have some signs of life One lone seedling has been there for a few days, but now they are popping up nicely. It was very very windy when I did the sowing so they are not at regular intervals and I put in more than I needed in case germination was poor.

I sowed one square, at the same time, in a box covered with a plastic lid. Those carrots seem to be a couple of days behind these ones, which were covered only by fleece. The ones in the box may not have been wet enough?

Icemaiden wrote:Finally!

I sowed Early Nantes 5 on May 14th and now I have some signs of life One lone seedling has been there for a few days, but now they are popping up nicely. It was very very windy when I did the sowing so they are not at regular intervals and I put in more than I needed in case germination was poor.

I sowed one square, at the same time, in a box covered with a plastic lid. Those carrots seem to be a couple of days behind these ones, which were covered only by fleece. The ones in the box may not have been wet enough?

I know you meant April 14th or those carrots would have been long given up on by me!

Nancy: Re your quote:

"I tried very gently to move 4 of them before the roots got too tangled."

Would it not be better just to snip off the four green shoots and leave one standing?

CindiLou wrote:

I know you meant April 14th or those carrots would have been long given up on by me!

Though it does seem like ages ago....

nancy said:

I tried very gently to move 4 of them before the roots got too tangled.

I've read recently several experienced gardeners' websites that mentioned that transplanting carrots can be done, if they're very young and it's done carefully. I've "loosened up" quite a bit about trying to be so "by the book" about lots of gardening techniques since joining this forum. I found some of the more experienced sfgardeners more relaxed ("it's only seeds") attitudes very appealing. If you've got the room and want to experiment to see if you have any luck transplanting some baby carrot plants - why not go for it? This is the way you learn what works for you and what doesn't. Maybe you'll discover that you don't always have to follow the "rules" so strictly - except for the formula for Mel's Mix and the things that make your garden a sfg. You really need to follow most of Mel's guidelines for that! Have fun with your gardening!

I still have carrots in the ground, and since carrot week is gone(I totally missed it), I'm pretty sure I ate a few of my carrots that week. Does that count as participation?

Definitely have some April 14 planting of Nantes YaYa and Coreless Nantes sprouting. I'm so excited, I shall go out and share a fish/kelp cocktail with them--I'll mix & pour it, they'll drink it..............I may drool a bit in anticipation, though.

Finally, I've had more carrots sprout! For the longest time, I only had 3 weak little sprouts. But now there are, all of a sudden, it seems, about 25 sprouts! I don't know whether they'll do anything since it's already hot most days down here in coastal Mississippi. But it's fun to at least have them sprout! Time will tell how they'll do. I'm still not too hopeful about getting a harvest from them. I was about ready to pull them out and give up. It's been a little cooler the last few days, I wonder if that helped them sprout?

Who's having better luck?

All four squares (okay, two are halves of a circle) have finally sprouted. The eagerly awaited Nantes Fancy, though, is just starting to sprout. At this time, Nantes Coreless--Win; YaYa--place, and Nantes Fancy--show. So I'm a winner, too! What I wanted was carrots for the grandkids to pull, even if they're still baby carrots; they'll be delicious.

sherryeo wrote:Finally, I've had more carrots sprout! For the longest time, I only had 3 weak little sprouts. But now there are, all of a sudden, it seems, about 25 sprouts! I don't know whether they'll do anything since it's already hot most days down here in coastal Mississippi. But it's fun to at least have them sprout! Time will tell how they'll do. I'm still not too hopeful about getting a harvest from them. I was about ready to pull them out and give up. It's been a little cooler the last few days, I wonder if that helped them sprout?

Who's having better luck?

Here's mine that were planted April 15th. It looks like the back row in the squares did not germinate as well but the seedlings in the middle have really taken off this last week. The squares are partially obscured by my bush beans and an earlier planting of the free Parisian carrots on the right in front.