🥕 Carrot
How to grow
Direct sow — carrots grow a taproot from minute one and transplanting gives you forked mutants. Sow as soon as soil hits 50°F; they germinate slowly (14-21 days) and the #1 beginner mistake is letting the seedbed dry out during that window. Pro move: lay a board or burlap over the row to hold moisture, and peek daily. In Florida, carrots are a fall-through-winter crop: sow October through January in the loose sand (Florida's deep sand is actually great for carrots if you add organic matter). Soil prep is everything: loose, stone-free, 10-12 inches deep. A single pebble becomes a carrot doing yoga. Mix seeds with sand for even distribution since they're dust-sized, and thin ruthlessly — crowded carrots stay finger-sized forever.
Water & feeding
Keep the seedbed consistently moist until germination, then about an inch a week. Letting carrots dry out then flooding them causes cracking and forked roots. Work 5-10% worm castings into the top 6 inches before sowing — castings improve sandy soil's water retention and feed the roots gently without the excess nitrogen that causes hairy, forked carrots. Avoid fresh manure entirely (forked city). Mulch between rows to keep soil cool.
Common problems
- Carrot rust fly (tunnels in roots) — row cover from sowing day; the fly finds carrots by smell.
- Poor germination — almost always a dried-out seedbed; use the board trick and water gently daily.
- Forked or stunted roots — stones, compacted soil, or fresh manure; loosen deep and thin properly.
Harvest
Pull when shoulders are 3/4 to 1 inch across — check by brushing soil away from the crown. Carrots sweeten after light frost as starches convert to sugars. Loosen with a fork before pulling in heavy soil, or you'll snap the tip off and leave half your harvest underground.