How to Grow Carrots: A Complete Organic Growing Guide

Did you know the humble carrot is originally native to Afghanistan? From those semi-arid soils to our home gardens, this vibrant and nutritious vegetable has been cultivated for its delicious orange roots. But carrots can be tricky to grow. I commonly get asked how to grow carrots that are long and straight.

In this guide, you’ll learn about types of carrots, when to plant carrots, how to prepare the soil, how to plant carrot seed for maximum germination, and the best watering strategy for carrots.

You Can’t Beet a Good Carrot

Carrot farms will hate me for sharing the pros’ secrets to perfect carrots, but I’m still letting everyone know the best technique for growing big, straight carrots every single time! By following the tips in this guide, you can simply have amazing carrots.

Brush up on your knowledge of organic growing techniques here at MIgardener, with top-notch growing guides from my garden to yours. You'll find that there is nothing better than growing organic!

• How to Grow Onions

• How to Grow Beets

• How to Grow Garlic

• How to Grow Potatoes

• How to Grow Grapes

• How to Grow Melons 

Carrots come in different shapes, sizes, and colors! They are classified by the shape and length of their root: Imperator carrots are long with a straight root that tapers out at the tip; Nantes are medium length with a blunt tip; Danvers are large and medium long; Chantenay are short with large shoulders.

Carrot colors vary from traditional orange to tones like white, yellow, purple, and even black! No matter what type you want to grow, carrots are packed with nutrition like vitamins, antioxidants, fiber, and beta-carotene!

Here are some popular carrot varieties:

Planting at the right time is essential to growing beautiful carrots! Carrot seeds germinate at soil temperatures between 55° and 65°F.

That means you will usually plant carrot seeds 2 to 3 weeks after your last expected frost date. For me in Michigan, that is the end of May to early June.

Typically, you will only get a 60 to 65% germination rate with carrot seeds, and the seeds only have a viability window of one to two years at most. Plus, carrot seeds are very finicky about their germination window.

If they are planted too early and stay too cold, the seeds will rot. If they are planted too late and it is too hot, the seeds won’t germinate. All of this adds up to make a small window for planting carrots.

Pro-Tip: Make sure you get good quality carrot seeds! Because the carrot germination window is so short, you can’t afford to miss it. You want to go with a high-quality seed source to increase your chances of successful germination.

Soil Prep

Soil composition makes a huge difference in producing perfect carrots! Carrots grow best in rich, very loose soil. Pro- Tip: Don't plant carrots in soils that crust easily after rain because the seedlings will have trouble breaking through the surface.

In heavy soils, the roots are restricted, causing poor development. Carrots grown in packed soil often develop forked and stubbed roots. On the other hand, soil that is too sandy will dry out too fast, creating wiry, spindly carrot roots.

Even though my native soil is heavy clay, pure compost has been amended, over time, into the native soil to create the ideal environment for carrots.

Pro-Tip: Add finished compost to the soil to increase nutrients and moisture retention. If you are starting with heavy clay or compacted soil, you will need to work the soil deeply, adding plenty of compost, the first year, so the roots can reach their full length.

How to Plant Carrots

Carrots can be finicky and challenging to grow. Whether planting in raised beds, containers, or in-ground, follow these steps for success:

1. Get Fresh Seeds - To maximize the chances of successful seed germination, plant fresh carrot seeds each year (less than 2 years old).

2. Choose a Location - Full sun is vital for carrots. They need a minimum of 5 hours, but ideally they should get between 6-10 hours of sun daily. Carrots need all that energy to grow larger roots!

3. Check Soil pH - A neutral to slightly acidic pH between 5.5 and 7.0 is desirable. Perform a soil test. Compost is a great pH buffer, so if you need to adjust your soil, apply more compost!

4. Fertilize —Amend the soil with fertilizer only once in the spring, using half the amount that you use on the rest of the garden. Using Trifecta+, we apply about 2 Tbs per square foot to fertilize carrots.

5. Water the Soil - Moist soil is critical to carrot seed germination. Make sure that your soil is thoroughly watered before you plant. Pro-Tip : Remember this old carrot rhyme: “If the seeds go dry, they die!”

6. Create Rows - Create rows about ¼ inch deep and 6 inches apart.

7. Overseed - Sow seeds in the prepared rows. Sow 2 times the normal amount of seed when planting carrots to ensure nice, full, dense rows of carrots, as carrot seeds have a lower germination rate.

8. Cover Them - After sowing, cover seeds with soil that is ¼ inch deep. Then, place a piece of cardboard over the carrot seeds you planted. Weigh it down with rocks or something similar so it won’t blow away. Carrot seeds do not germinate very well if you leave them exposed to sunlight. Because you must plant carrot seeds almost at the soil surface, they need to be covered to maximize germination! (Covering the seeds with cardboard will also help them stay moist.)

9. Check Them - Check under the cardboard periodically after 4 or 5 days for carrot sprouts. The green sprouts usually appear in two to three weeks. When they start to sprout, remove the cardboard.

10. Spacing - You will want to come back and thin carrots later to create proper spacing. Once the carrots are 3 to 4 weeks old, thin sprouts 1 1/2" to 2" apart. If carrots are not spaced correctly, they may be undersized and will sometimes merge in hilarious shapes. But there's nothing wrong with a twisted carrot! The nutrients are still there, just packaged differently.

How to Grow Carrots

Like any root vegetable, carrots are cold tolerant. They will produce best in temperatures from 45°- 85°F.

Fertilizing Carrots

A common mistake is over-fertilizing carrots. Too much nitrogen is the culprit, producing a lot of green growth but not much root development. You may see the same effect in radishes, beets, turnips, rutabagas, and other modified root crops.

As stated earlier, I recommend only fertilizing carrots once in the spring using an all-purpose fertilizer like Trifecta+ to increase root development, but applying only half of the recommended amount.

Watering Carrots

Keep the soil moist until the seedlings are at least 1 inch high. After that, practice deep watering.

To deep water carrots, water them heavily and then wait for the soil to dry out (just to the depth of the end of the carrot) before watering heavily again. This causes the carrot root to grow down, deeper into the soil, in search of water.

Frequent watering will grow smaller carrots because the root won't need to travel to find moisture. If you water only at the surface, you will end up with a lot of webby roots, not well-formed carrots.

Harvesting Carrots: Knowing When to Pull Them Up

Harvest carrots while they are small, no more than 1 to 1.5 inches in diameter. Depending on cultivar and sowing date, you may begin harvesting as early as mid-July and continue until the end of October.

Read this blog post to know when to harvest carrots, how to harvest and properly store carrots, and how to save carrot seeds.

To keep them crisp, store carrots in the refrigerator in an air-tight container. With patience and care, you'll soon be enjoying delicious homegrown carrots!