Survival Crop – Carrots

\”Are YOU Ready?\”

Commenter Marc asked about germinating carrots last week. I find carrots to be tricky  most years because of their finicky germinating. They are slow and uneven in their germination and it can be tricky to keep an eye on them for the 3 weeks it can take for them to sprout. The main  problem seems to be the dry crust that can form on top of a tilled  bed. The wimpy little sprouts just can’t seem to deal with it. Most of the tricks for germinating carrots are just trying to deal with that problem.

You can lay down porous materials that will allow air and water through, but delay the drying effect of the sun and wind. Burlap bags, and row cover can be used for this. The trick here is that you have to get that material off soon after the seeds sprout, otherwise they’ll grow into the material, trying to get to the sun. Pulling off the material after that happens turns into an action of mass destruction, ripping every last little sprout out of the ground. You can use fast growing, quickly sprouting seeds intermingled with the carrot seed to help keep the soil loose and moist. Radishes, lettuces, those work for this application.

I use a combination of well rotted leaf mulch and consistent watering, with my really loose soil. I have never had good luck with carrots in new gardens, gardens that are still light in organic matter, and still a bit compacted. If your garden has either of those characteristics, you’ll have a harder time getting them to germinate.

Why not just plant them inside and transplant them out? Well, it’s really hard to do that without disturbing the roots. When you disturb carrot roots, they branch, and you’ll end up with really weird looking roots. Soil that is too rocky will give you branched carrots too.

They sound like a lot of work, I know, but the results are totally worth it, especially in a SHTF situation.  Carrots don’t take a lot of work to get good roots, after the initial germination coddling.  Being underground gives them some protection from the worst effects of bad weather. They can be fed to most domesticated animals. They store well, in the ground or out of it.

Shout out in the comments if you have carrot tips, tricks or questions.  All this talk of their carroty-goodness has me thinking about planting some this evening. I’ve got seed for some purple ones this year. Just for something different.

Get out there and plant some food!

- Calamity  Jane