Growing Carrots in Zone 7b

I love carrots. I don’t get tired of them. I like them raw, in salads, roasted in a savory way, roasted in a sweet way. Soon as I get some more growing space I will be sure to grow more of them.

The timing is tricky though with this cool-weather-loving crop. You need to get them going early enough in the year so that you are harvesting them before the daily temperatures are getting above 85 degrees. Extended heat will make them taste not so sweet and/or woody. There are probably methods out there for growing carrots in high summer, but I just wait til summer is over and then try to do a fall crop.

I have grown Little Finger (heirloom), Scarlet Nantes (heirloom), Aranka (hybrid) and Kyoto Red (which is for fall only). I seem to have the most success with Little Finger and Aranka.

Carrots like sandy soil with no rocks. Rocks, pebbles, bits of mulch, etc. can get in the way of the root and cause the roots to get stunted or forked. I try to go through the soil by hand and remove such obstructions, or you could screen the soil. You can buy sand to add to the soil. I have also just found sandier areas of soil in the yard, dug some up and mixed it in.

Here in southern NJ, carrots should be directly sown in early March.

They take around two weeks to germinate; don’t let the soil dry out during this time. It’s helpful to get pelleted seed for ease of planting, since the seeds are tiny. Otherwise, I just sow rows with scattered seed and thin them out later. Keep the soil protected in some way from critters like squirrels who like to disturb the soil.

(It just occurred to me, though, that you could start carrots inside if you use soil blocks. I should look into that.)

I’ve grown carrots in various types of containers and they’ve done just as well as when they were in the ground.

The thinning out is very important. They can be as close an inch to each other, but to get good size carrots you probably want to keep them more like two inches apart. I hate “wasting” anything that has come to life and wants to grow, but I have to put my big girl pants on and yank them. You can cut them with scissors too, to avoid disturbing the seedlings you are leaving.

I haven’t had any pest issues with carrots. Once they get established they are pretty easy to tend. They do need full sun. Keep track of how long they’ve been growing and follow what the seed packet says to know when to pick them. Loosen them well with your fingers before pulling them out. I like Little Finger because they are short and easy to pull. Most varieties seem to take about 60 days.

To store carrots in the fridge, clean them well, cut off the tops, and put them in water in a container. Change the water once a week. I have never grown enough carrots to have to figure out any other preservation method!

If you grow carrots for a fall/winter harvest, the process is about the same. Carrots can survive a moderate frost, so you can plant fall carrots anytime between July and September, more or less, in 7b. Carrots will taste sweeter after a frost because the cold temperature triggers them to store sugar in the root.