Daucus carota sativus

You ’ve plausibly never taste a really fantabulous Daucus carota sativa , unless you ’ve grown one yourself .

Homegrown carrots are crisper , fresher , and derive in a much wide-eyed mixture of flavor , colors , and shape than what you could bribe in the average supermarket .

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A close up of carrots in the ground, almost ready for harvest with their orange root tops showing. Green foliage attached and rich dark soil around them.

Carrots damaged by carrot root fly maggot.

You too can get those unique flavors , colors , and influence to take root in your own garden . Here ’s what ’s to come in this article :

What You’ll Learn

Ready to acquire how to grow carrots ? All mightily , permit ’s go !

Cultivation and History

shut your eye for just a moment and think of a carrot . What do you see ?

I ’m going to take a wild guess and assume that you thought of somethingorangein color . So it may storm you to know that the wild ancestor of our domesticated carrot , D. carota , has a white root .

The orange color we relate with this vegetable is a middling recent developing in the chronicle of the domestic Daucus carota sativa .

A close up of different colored carrots all arranged in a row, on a wooden surface. To the center and bottom of the frame is white and green text.

Carrots damaged by carrot root fly maggot.

Researchers seem to be diffident just how far back domestication of this rootage veg take place . In an issue ofChronica HORTICULTURAE from 2011 , John Stolarczyk and Jules Janick point to grounds that domestic cultivated carrot have been around since at least the 2nd hundred CE .

There is a consensus among experts , however , that a thousand year ago multitude were eating yellow and purple carrots in Central Asia , the position where they are thought to have been originally cultivated – or perhaps as far back as 5000 years ago .

It was n’t until much later that orange diversity come onto the scene . In “ Origin and Distribution of the Western Cultivated Carrot , ” author Otto Banga cites the first historic evidence – from written accounts and paintings – of the orange carrot in the 1600 ’s .

A collage of photos showing carrots growing in a home vegetable garden.

consort to Banga , orange pigmentation in carrots fare about through mutation and selection of a breed of yellow cultivated carrot .

Knowing just a snatch about the story of Daucus carota sativa should give us a great appreciation for both the brilliant orangish ones we are all familiar with , and variety in other beautiful colors .

These days we have heirlooms and hybrids available for farm in the domicile garden in black , purple , crimson , yellowish , and white as well .

A close up of different colored carrots all arranged in a row, on a wooden surface. To the center and bottom of the frame is white and green text.

How to Sow Carrots

Whether you want to grow carrots that are orangish , smuggled , or something else on the color spectrum , you ’ll need to be intimate how tostart them from ejaculate . Carrots do not transfer well – the roots are sensitive to disturbance , so seed sowing is a must .

Choose your seeds and choose a garden spot with full sun , one where you could create a Daucus carota sativa paradise . This paradise will consist of easy , arenaceous loam grime that is well - draining .

It should be costless from rocks , stem , and clods of dirt to about 12 inches deep . Pull up any weeds if you see them as well .

A close up of white carrots, harvested and cleaned, with green tops still attached.

Plan to sow in your Daucus carota sativa seeds as soon as your stain can be worked . For a bound garden this is usually two to four weeks before your last hoarfrost escort . you’re able to also inseminate them 10 to 12 week before your first frost engagement for a fall harvest .

If you are implant in row , space them 10 inches apart . chuck the ground softly without compact it , then lay out your seeds . flora two to six seeds per inch . Cover with a stern to half an inch of soil , then dab the grime again softly .

Carrots alsogrow well in container , and pottedcarrots can even be grown indoors – in fact , they are one of the easy veggies to develop at bottom , and their leafy green foliation makes them an attractive plant for the home . Just verify your carrot are on a cheery windowsill and keep them water .

Freshly dug yellow and purple carrots with soil and foliage still attached are on a wooden fence post. In the background is a wicker basket with soil and vegetation in soft focus.

Water lightly , since carrot seeded player are pocket-size and light , and prostrate to being washed away . Keep the soil moist , but not waterlogged – you may ask to irrigate every day until sprouting .

Carrot seeds can take up to 21 days or longer to germinate , so this is a in force time to exercise your patience andcomplete some other horticulture job .

How to Grow Carrots

To mature them successfully , carrot will expect a little more tutelage and attention than some of the more lay back members of your veggie garden .

But providing this attention will be well worth the superfluous work – your payoff will be a delectable crop of veggie to blackguard , juice , or transmute into cultivated carrot cake .

Soil

Work well - mature compostor vermicompostinto your stain to make it for planting . verify there are no large clods in your compost , as this will make misshapen solution . If you summate manure , check that it is aged – high N levels are detrimental to root developing .

This root vegetable requires phosphorus for healthy increment . If asoil testreveals that your soil is lacking in phosphorus , work some os repast into your soilwhen you prepare it for implant .

Thinning

When seedlings are three to four column inch marvellous , flimsy to one in aside , pinching off the tops of the sacrificial carrots rather than pulling them out , since this can raise up the roots of surrounding plants .

A month later , thin again so that plant are two column inch apart . This time , pull up up the baby carrots you are removing and keep them to cook with .

Thinning plants is necessary to keep them straight – crowded Daucus carota sativa will have twisted roots .

A close up of one long thin carrot on a dark background, with foliage arranged to the left of the frame. The bright orange contrasts with the background and the rich green of the leaves.

Mulching

After your seeds have transformed into proper seedlings , mulch thinly around them . Once the root begin to grow , treat any crowns that bulge above the ground level with mulch or grunge to keep them from turning fleeceable and bitter .

Mulching will also help oneself to prevent pot from taking up room and resources in your layer .

Weeding

Keep the area weed free , but weed cautiously so as not to disturb the carrots ’ theme . To invalidate accidentally pull in up your seedlings , cut the tops off neighboring sess instead of pulling them up .

Once the plants are show , make trusted tostay on top of the weedsor they will pull valuable nutrients away from your crop .

Growing Tips

Carrot Cultivars to Select

When choosing cultivar , you’re able to take the undecomposed varieties for your needs if you take a few thing into story : soil depth , early or former maturing sort , and – perhaps good of all – color .

Soil Depth

There are two main groups of carrot in footing of soil depth needs : the long and thin ones , and the short blocky ones .

The prospicient , thin ones – Nantes and Imperator varieties – need a foot of loose soil to originate in , while the short blockish ones – DanversandChantenay varieties – will do well in more shallow soil .

This seraphic and tender orangish variety show with a red core will essay to be a good option if your grease is heavy and turn back a lot of clay .

A close up of carrot seeds spilling out of a packet onto a piece of brown paper on a wooden surface.

‘ Chantenay Red Core ’

‘ Chantenay Red Core ’ roots only develop up to six inch long . This cultivar age in 68 solar day , andseeds can be found at lawful Leaf Market .

Early vs. Late

When choosing your Daucus carota sativa source , you ’ll also want to turn over how many days are require to convey your crop to due date .

If you have a prospicient growing season , you may go with one of the later suppurate types , while those of us with shorter seasons may need to rely on former maturing type .

‘ Little Finger ’ is aNantes typethat looks like – you guessed it – a little finger .

A close up of garden soil with a row of carrot seedlings just starting to sprout. Tiny green shoots showing through the dark rich soil in light sunshine.

‘ Little Finger ’

This orange , fast - mature change grows up to four in long and will be quick to glean in 55 days . Seeds areavailable in various packet size of it from honest Leaf Market .

Nearly Every Color of the Rainbow

Once you specify down your soil depth needs and preferences for former versus belated diversity , then you may get to the fun part – prefer your colour .

Carrots can be found in various shades of orange – of class – but also yellows , reds , purples , whites , and even disastrous !

If you ca n’t make up one’s mind which colors of carrot you wish the best , a seed blend is a good fashion to experiment .

A close up of rows of carrot seedlings just sprouting through the dark, rich earthy soil, in the rain. The green of the foliage contrasts with the dark earth and the background is soft focus.

This rainbow blend includes five coloured miscellany to supply you with a full pallette .

You ’ll pull a promising bunch of seven - inch Daucus carota sativa from the ground in 65 to 75 days . Varieties included are ‘ Atomic Red , ’ ‘ Bambino Orange , ’ ‘ Cosmic Purple , ’ ‘ Lunar White , ’ and ‘ Solar Yellow . ’

Rainbow Blend

A vertical picture of a close up of a carrot plant with the top of the root just poking through the soil. The orange root contrasts with the green foliage and the dark soil. The background is soft focus.

Packets of19,000 seeds per apothecaries' ounce are available from True Leaf Market – you ’ll have plenty to go around !

If you want even more choice in your selection , read our article on13 of the sound Daucus carota sativa varietiesto grow at home .

Managing Pests and Disease

Carrots are such a simple , wholesome veggie . But growing them can be a bit complex since they are a quarry for many pests and diseases .

you may handle these problem with a holistic scheme , as outline in ourguide to Integrated Pest Management .

Herbivores

If you see signs of scathe to your carrots , do a little investigate before you bound to place the incrimination .

Do you see any droppings nearby ? How about any tracks ? Deer and rabbit might both appreciate a munch on your carrot top , while computer mouse and counterspy might nibble on the crowns .

Interplanting your crops will make prize vegetables less obvious to deer . Deer fencingwill also keep them out . fence with a pie-eyed power system will assist keep smaller nibblers like coney out of the vegetable patch .

A close up of a row of carrots, pictured in bright sunshine, in the soil, with green wispy foliage. The soil is light brown and moist, the background is soft focus.

Insects

The chief peril to your rootage comes from underground . Various larval pests such as Daucus carota sativa rust fly , carrot weevil , and wireworms can burrow into the carrot root word , causing uttermost damage to your crop .

Above the ground , some insect will chew the leaf . These admit flea beetles and aster leafhopper .

Most of these wo n’t cause widespread damage – unless you survive in an expanse where grasshoppers are prevalent , in which case they will masticate your greens down to the nub .

A selection of odd shaped carrots, laid out on the grass with the foliage still attached.

There are many different insect pest that can target these plants , but these will vary depending on your realm . you could discover a comprehensive leaning in our “ How to name and Control Carrot Pests ” guide .

To prevent insect job , there are various step you could take :

Disease

Carrots can also be affect by many unlike disease , but do n’t let this deter you . If you follow good practices , such as interplanting , planting resistant cultivars , and rotate your crops , you may never have to worry about these .

Diseases can be because of bacteria or fungi . If you see non-white gray spots with yellow halos appearing on older leaves , this can be due to Alternaria leafage blight . Bacterial leafage blight present small yellow bit that rapidly get expectant , falsify the leaves . Both of these are seed borne disease which spread in water supply .

Daucus carota sativa black rot can look alike to Alternaria folio blight , but it can pop seedlings and disintegrate the stem . Crater rot nowadays as dark-brown lesions on the antecedent , though the first you ’ll credibly notice is decline on the jacket .

A close up of rows of carrot tops sprouting out of the dark earthy soil.

bar is decidedly better than cure for all these disease . Keeping the crops moist but not waterlogged , with just air flow between them , and weed on a regular basis should keep your vegetables healthy and disease barren .

Just as they protect your crops from dirt ball , float row covers will also pop the question protection from the diseases that certain insects commonly spread .

Learn about identify and control carrot diseases .

A close up of purple carrots, with their green foliage still attached, freshly harvested and cleaned. The tapering roots go from a deep purple at the top to a light color at the tip. The background is a wooden surface.

Harvesting Carrots

To get a general idea of when your carrots will be ready for harvest , refer to the day to due date infoon your seed packet . Rather than relying solely on this average timeframe , also inspect your plants . Most cultivar are mature and quick to glean when the crowns spring up to be at least half an inch in diameter .

If the roots are n’t bulge from the ground , brush back some of the dirt around the crown to see how big they are . If they need more time , deal them back up and hold again in a distich of weeks .

For spring plantings , harvest your crop before the summer heat Seth in to forfend bolting – bolting green produce fibrous , inedible beginning . For surrender garden , harvest after a few clean frosts , which will dulcify the roots .

A close up of ‘Little Fingers’ cultivar recently harvested, with tops still attached and soil on the roots. These carrots are short and stubby. The background is dark soil.

If you are growing heirloom mixture , you might require to conceive leaving a few in the earth andallowing seed ontogenesis for a seed harvest .

When you ’re ready to harvest , first relax the land with a shovel , garden crotch , or broadfork , being heedful not to damage the root , so that you could pull them up without breaking them .

Wipe off supernumerary soil and cut off greens to prepare for storage .

A selection of different colored carrots in a row. Around them are various others cut into rounds, with some foliage.

For farsighted term memory , either leave fall crops in the ground and mulch to a great extent , or place them in a bucket of moist sand in a cool cellar . For short term computer storage , clean the roots exhaustively and place them in a perforate bag in the fridge .

Some varieties are bred for long storage , so if you are project for a bumper crop that you wo n’t use all at once , verify you choose one of these .

Find out more about harvest carrots here .

A close up of a rabbit to the left of the frame, investigating a vegetable garden. To the right of the frame is green carrot foliage, which the rabbit is sniffing. The background is soil and vegetation in soft focus, in light sunshine.

Preserving

Now that you are a Daucus carota sativa gardening master , it wo n’t be long until you ’re ready to turn your homegrown carrots into culinary delicacies .

Carrots can be canned , pickled , or preserved by fermentation , frozen , dried , or even cooked down into jam .

Freezing is well-to-do . Just cut off the unripened tops , then cut them into the size you demand . Briefly blanch in stewing water before souse into icing water .

A close up of harvested carrots with black rot damage to the roots. The orange vegetable has gone dark and has lesions. The background is soil and green foliage.

Dry thoroughly on a paper towel then crop up them in the freezer . When you want to use them , there ’s no demand to defrost , just cook straight from the deep-freeze .

It ’s potential to freeze carrots without blanching them first , but be sure to clean them thoroughly beforehand to remove any bacterium , and utilize within three calendar month .

To desiccate , cut them into lowly chunks or slices , blanch briefly ( one second , depend on the size ) then put them in a dehydrator or oven at 125 ° F until dry and crispy . Store them in an airtight container until you ’re ready to expend them .

A close up of tiny carrot seedlings pushing through the soil. Small leafy foliage against a white background with soft focus soil in front.

lend them to sauerkraut , kimchi , or if you ’re in a hurry make a quick pickle with Malus pumila cider acetum .

Cut into slight slices , and place in a heatproof jar . heat up up a cup of apple cider acetum , about a tablespoon each of mustard cum and table salt , and a after part cupful of scratch in a goat god , stir frequently .

land it to the boil and pour into the jar over the Daucus carota sativa slice . Cool to room temperature then cover and refrigerate . They ’ll last for two to three weeks in the electric refrigerator . Learn foods on our sister site , Foodal .

A hand and a spade from the right of the frame, the hand holding a bunch of freshly dug carrots pulling them out of the earth. A shoe and blue trouser bottom in the background, with soil and grassy vegetation all around.

Recipes and Cooking Ideas

I love goat high mallow with just about any crepuscule veg . If you do too , why nothead over to Foodaland try the formula for herb - roasted cultivated carrot tartines with pesto and goat Malva sylvestris ? It ’s scrumptious !

One of my favorite ways to showcase the flavour of homegrown vegetables is with a simple soup . This Daucus carota sativa souprecipe on Foodalwill for certain warm up you up when it ’s chilly outside .

And do n’t forget dessert . How about some paleo cupcake with coconut whipped ointment ? They ’re also gluten - gratis .

Two hands from the left of the frame, with white gloves holding a bunch of carrots by their green tops. The freshly dug vegetables still have soil attached. Light sunshine bathes the harvest and the background of soft focus vegetable garden.

You canfind the recipe on Foodal .

Quick Reference Growing Guide

Black Is the New Orange?

Good employment , gardener . You are ready to create magic under the soil !

Now all you have to do is make the hard choice of selecting a few varieties of Daucus carota sativa ejaculate to include in your next veggie garden .

If you found this maturate guide helpful , why not take root around and find even more helpful gardening gratuity here for growing your own root veg :

A close up of a plastic basket full of freshly harvested carrots, with green tops removed but soil still on the roots, in light sunshine.

Photos by Nikki Cervone and Raquel Smith © Ask the Experts , LLC . ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.See our TOSfor more contingent . primitively published November 19th , 2019 . Last updated March 20th , 2023 . Product exposure via on-key Leaf Market . Uncredited photos : Shutterstock . Expanded and revised from an original article by Natasha Foote . With extra writing and editing by Clare Groom and Allison Sidhu .

About

Kristina Hicks - Hamblin

From the left of the frame, a small plate containing grated carrot, a peeled onion, and two cloves of garlic, next to a sealed jar containing grated cabbage to be made into sauerkraut. To the right of the frame is a bowl with grated vegetables and a fork sticking out of it. The background is dark wood.

A top down close up picture of a carrot and pesto tartine. A dark slate background, with a piece of bread topped with cheese, green herb pesto, and roasted thinly sliced carrots on top. Parsley leaves scattered around.

A white bowl with creamy carrot soup, topped with a swirl of cream and herbs on a wooden surface with a blue patterned cloth beside it and a spoon.

A top down view of paleo carrot cupcakes with white frosting, a walnut on top and thinly sliced carrots arranged in a swirl.

A close up of freshly harvested, cleaned heirloom carrots in a variety of colors. Orange, deep purple, and milky white on a green leaf in the background. The bright green stems contrast with the vibrant colors.