Last spring a put a lot of compost into the garden bed, so the soil was not compacted or rocky when I went to plant. I planted the carrots, thinned them when I was supposed to (maybe not aggressively enough), and watered them throughout the summer (again, maybe not as much as I should have, but it wasn't a hot dry summer here either). I didn't fertilize them, figuring the compost would be enough for them this year.
I just pulled them out of the ground and many of them are super small like almost nothing there on the root, most of them are short stubby little things only an inch or 2 long, then there are a few nicer longer straight ones. What did I do wrong? I am disappointed in how they turned out. What can I do better next year? Carrot type? Thinning? Watering? Fertilizing? Talking to them more?
by Western_Attention714
5 Comments
Soil was too dense
Similar issue for me this year. Used outdoor planting mix. I’ve read that perhaps adding sand to the mix will help them borough in deeper. Even planing mix and compost get too solid over time.
I’ve always had a terrible time growing carrots in the ground, they always turned out like this. Switched to a raised bed before I gave up completely and I got more big plump carrots than I know what to do with, highly recommend
You didn’t say when you planted and when you harvested. Which could be an issue, if you didn’t wait 60-80 days to, depending on the type.
If you waited that long I would tend to agree that the soil is not loamy and/or not loose enough.
Telling us what part of the world/country you planted them would be helpful. And what the predominant type of soil you have in your yard.
I’m north of Atlanta, and my yard is predominantly clay. I would have to do some serious amending to my soil in order to grow any root veggies.
How much direct sunlight were they exposed to? I had two plots of carrots in my raised bed garden this year. One bed had full exposure with 6+ hours of sunlight a day the other had maybe 4. The one with less sunlight ended up like your harvest. The one with a full day the yield was twice as large.