Daucus carota, or most commonly known as carrot, is ranked 7th as one of most consumed fresh vegetable in the world. Carrots are a good source of beta-carotene, vitamin C, vitamin A, potassium, other vitamins, and minerals, including dietary fiber.
Freshly harvested carrots
Moreover, carrots are widely accepted as food medicine for cardiovascular and macular diseases. It is also a popular ingredient in juices, salads, and cooked food. That is why this vegetable is considered as a staple food. Due to its demand, carrots are widely cultivated across the world and sold in different forms such as fresh, frozen, juice, and cut. Since carrot is seldom absent in our family dishes, why not plant carrots in your own backyard and experience its freshest flavor right from your own backyard.
Newly harvested carrots with its leaves still attached to them
The taproot may be the favored part of the carrot, but did you know in other parts of the world, fresh young green leaves are also used as a salad ingredient? Fresh young carrot leaves add a unique flavor to the salad-distinct bitter note.
Mature carrot plants are covering the garden bed with lush green leaves
3 Things To Consider When Growing Carrots
When growing carrot in your backyard, there are 3 things you must consider to be successful.
1. Carrot Variety
Carrot comes with a different variety, and each type has distinct color, shape, size, texture, and taste. Nantes, Imperator, Chantenay, and Mini Carrot variety are just some of the popular ones. Choosing carrot variety is important because you need to match your present garden condition to grow a carrot properly. Other carrot varieties are comparable in vitamins and medicinal properties as well. In picking your carrot seed, you might want to choose your carrot seed variety depending on your taste and garden environment, or you can just try and experiment. Start planting and get your seeds here.
As shown above, the carrot has a wide variety
2. Germination
Carrot seeds are harvested from clusters or umbel of flowers. They are small and can weigh up to 1-2 mg only. In general, carrot can be harvested in four months or 120 days but can be as early as 56 days, depending on the variety.
Daucus Carota Flower with numerous mature clustered seeds from fertilized flower. Via: Flickr.com
3. Air, Soil, And Irrigation Condition
Cool, dry season with air temperatures of 16-18°C between the months of April and July are the best time to plant your carrot seed. It grows well on a sandy loam loose soil and under the sunny weather with less irrigation. It can even survive in a poorly fertilized soil. With these growing conditions, the carrot can be planted even by neophytes.
Freshly harvest carrots with traces of soil still stuck on it
It takes 10-15 days for the first leaf to sprout from germination. What do carrot sprouts look like?
- As a member of Apiaceae family, carrot sprout does look like its relative– celery, anise, dill, and cilantro. This flavorful, aromatic group of plants mostly have leaves aggregated towards the base. Subsequent leaves will eventually grow in alternating and spiral manner.
Mature carrots with aggregated leaves attached to the taproot
- So, what do carrot sprouts look like? Carrot sprouts first grow two weed-like leaves and with a clear demarcation between the taproot and stem. The stem is the thick part and the taproot will eventually grow smaller roots from it. Sunlight exposed area of the taproot is discolored to a slightly darker shade of the taproots color.
Carrot Sprout days after germination. Via: Flickr.com
- Since it resembles like that of weeds, it is quite tricky to differentiate them from the other. One way to distinguish what do carrot sprouts look like is to crush its leaves. Doing so will emit a distinct carrot aroma. It is important to get rid of other weeds while carrot is growing to avoid soil nutrient competition.
Carrot health benefits and medicinal properties are unquestionably at par with our store-bought vitamins minus pesticides and chemicals. Given its benefits, no wonder why we, organic enthusiast, would want to try and plant carrot in our own garden. We are willing to patiently wait and be amazed at what do carrot sprouts look like as it grows right before our very eyes.
Thank you for dropping by, and hopefully, you get something useful from this article. For more gardening tips, read our other blogs!
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