How to grow straight carrots in raised garden beds

[Andy_J]

Hello Everyone,

I am new to gardening and tried my luck at growing carrots.

The carrots were OK but are stunted. Harvest pic

So I wanted to see if anyone knows any tips or pointers to grow straight carrots.

Thank you in advance 

Andy

[MitchellMc]

Hi @Andy_J,

Many thanks for your question. As I was mentioning I would be interested in knowing the secrets of growing straight carrots. I've included a picture below of how all of mine have turned out.

I'm growing mine in a raised garden bed of approximately 750mm depth, so I don't believe it is a lack of soil depth in my circumstance. The soil I am growing in is reasonable, but I wouldn't say it is great. It was a combination of mid-priced potting mix, compost and cow manure. There is a chance I went a little to heavy on the cow manure, but everything seems to be loving it. The soil is a fairly open and loose mix which is certainly not compacted as it is a new bed.

Let me mention @Adam_W, @Noelle and @mich1972 to see if they can enlighten us on the mystery of stunted carrots.

Mitchell

[Aussie-Garden]

For my root vegies, I sieve my garden soil mix through a home made mesh frame so the soil is loose and also free from hard clumps that may get in the way of a newly formed vegetable or roots.

I also make sure there is depth to the soil, so  carrots can grow down and potatoes can grow up.

I've had good results so far, so I just stick to this method. That and feeding them at planting and during growing of course.

I'm no expert though, so I may just be very lucky so far. 😁

[Andy_J]

Thanks Rattle.

any specific depth requirements. My raised bed is 300mm and I have pots ranging from 120 to 150mm

I was planning to try with pots.

[Aussie-Garden]

Hi @Andy_J .

This will sound silly, but I actually measured a carrot from a store, which I considered a 'normal' size and a bit of wishful thinking for my growing. 😁

Then when planning the bed and considering a pot, I made sure I cleared that measurement by maybe 5 or 6  inches so excess moisture would drain lower down and away from the veg.

This is all just my own guess work and what has worked so far and not based on any guides. 

Hopefully someone will have some great tips and we can all show off a bumper crop next time around. 👍

[Noelle · Accepted solution]

Hi @Andy_J 

@Aussie-Garden is right about the soil but the most important thing is to not fertilise the soil immediately before growing carrots.  They are best sown into soil or potting mix that was fertilised for a previous crop - ie up to 6 or 9 months previously.  Too rich a growing medium will cause carrots to grow stumpy or forked. One of the reasons is because the roots (carrots) don't have to grow down deep in search of nutrients.

Market gardeners tend to grow carrots and other root vegies in light sandy loam that offers little resistance and which hasn't been fertilised since before the previous crop.

You need a minimum depth of soil/potting mix of around 300mm for carrots - in fact for all vegies.  Any shallower than this and there's not enough depth for roots to grow down and securely anchor plants. Over summer, shallow soils also tend to become quite hot and will dry out very quickly. My preference is for soil depth between 450 and 600mm.

Remember to practice crop rotation too, even in a raised bed. Don't grow the same crop in the same spot year on year.

[MitchellMc]

@Noelle,

That might be the cause of my issue there. I wasn't able to get enough potting mix so I used more cow manure than I normally would. I also mixed in a reasonable amount of dynamic lifter when creating the bed just days before planting the seed. 

Many thanks for the helpful information.

Mitchell

[Andy_J]

Thanks rattle

[Andy_J]

Thanks Noelle. I will save this info when I start to grow carrots again after I harvest cauliflower and cabbage (which is about 1-2 weeks). Will also get a smaller raised veggie patch may be 600mm and plant another batch of carrots. 

Thanks again and will keep practice crop rotation

[Andy_J]

Hi MitchellMc,

My best carrots were in the new bed 300mm and compacted. However, my stunted carrots were i guess due to translating.

See I went from seed and i saw too many seedings, I thinned them out and transplanted seedlings to another bed, which was not did not work well.

I am also keen now to see if weather has any significant role to play as my first try was during winter. I like spring and hope carrots do too.

Also, I am not sure if potting mix is the right fit for carrots. I agree with Noelle and could see sandy loam as a good medium.

Cheers