Growing carrots in your own garden and harvesting them can give you the freshest of produce. If you go a step further and start growing carrots organically, you can be sure that your garden patch will give you carrots that are healthy to eat.
A Properly Prepared Soil Can Give You Good Results
Soil that is used to grow carrots needs to be slightly sandy in nature. If the soil is clayey dig up your soil, add a little sand and turn it over. It is best to add some natural fertilizer like horse or cow manure. Another source for good natural fertilizer can be from a compost pit which uses kitchen and garden waste. Such a pit can be easily made in most backyards and making this compost gives you fertilizer that is absolutely organic in nature. Make sure that are no lumps in the soil that you have prepared, add a layer of straw and lay some newspapers on the prepared bed and some sand on the newspapers. Water the prepared patch for a few days and let the soil remain so for a few weeks. See that the bed is raised a couple of inches above the general level of your garden.
Image Source: Wikipedia : Carrots
Planting the Carrot Seeds and Planting Techniques
Obtain the carrot seeds of your choice. Many varieties of carrot seeds are available, and it is best to choose the one that grows extensively in your own area. Plant them in early spring in rows that are at least 12 inches apart and in soil that has been spaded up to a depth of 8 inches. Planting should be ideally half an inch deep with deeper planting if the soil is dry. Lightly water the planted seeds and do this daily.
Carrots need to grow at correct spacing so that the plants do not crowd out each other. For this purpose thin out the carrots to an inch of space, once their tops are about an inch high. Once there are three or four leaves on a plant, repeat the thinning process until they are about three inches apart.
Image Source: Wikipedia: Rows of carrot plants
Care during the Growing Process
Once the plants are sufficiently grown, lightly fertilize them with organic manure. Liquid fertilizer is the best, and you can even make your own if you have your own compost pit. Organic spray made of garlic or onion can be used as a spray to remove the bugs. Remove the bugs if they are big enough to be seen. Birds could get at your carrot crop, but you would have to find your own way to drive them away, or learn to share with them.
Harvesting and storing
Carrots will mature in about three month’s time. Harvest them when the color is even and the carrots are still tender. You can let them remain in the ground if you are not yet ready to use them. If you want to store carrots make sure the place where you keep them is cool and has a high humidity. Now that you have started growing vegetables organically, expand your kitchen garden and get a few more of those healthy veggies.
