Growing Carrots: Tips at a Glance
Carrots are a formerly wild root vegetable that can be happy in gardens with deep, loamy soil (free of rocks or dirt clods that cause crooked roots).
- Type Edible vegetable
- Lifespan Biennial
- USDA Zones 4-10
- Light Sun
- Water Moist soil
- When to Plant Spring, midsummer
- Design Tip Rainbow colors
- Companions Radishes, herbs, peas
- Days to Mature 70-120
Carrots: A Field Guide
Carrots began, like so many vegetables, in the wild.
Through cultivation and selection, Daucus carota subsp. sativus has learned to be happy as an edible garden staple—if you have deep, loamy soil, free of rocks or dirt clods that cause crooked roots. Direct seeds two inches apart and thin to four to six inches apart by snipping the tops. (Pulling can disturb the roots you leave behind.) Carrots store well in the ground, so leave them in the soil even after they mature. Be patient—carrots require about two and a half months from seed to harvest.