The oyster mushroom gets its name from its cap which, some say, resembles an oyster. The stem of the oyster mushrooms is perhaps more distinct; it unfurls something like one of those old-time paper lady's fans. The oyster mushroom has...

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Carrot and Parsnip Growing Problems: Troubleshooting

Carrots and parsnips grow best in loose, sandy, humus-rich soil. Size does not make for more flavorful carrots and parsnips. For best flavor, lift both crops before they reach maximum size.

Carrots and parsnips can be sown thickly; later thin both from 2 to 2½ inches apart or more depending upon the variety. Young thinned carrots can be used fresh in salads.

Carrots and parsnips are in the same plant family and are attacked by the same insects and diseases. Watch for the carrot rust fly, a dark-green fly that lays eggs in the soil near carrots, parsnips, and celery; the larvae dig through the soil to the tip of the carrot and eat their way upward.

For carrot growing tips see How to Grow Carrots or Carrot Growing Success Tips at the bottom of this post.

Here are common carrot growing problems with cures and controls:

Seedlings fail to emerge. (1) Soil crusting: keep planting beds evenly moist until seedlings emerge; protect planting beds from heavy overhead irrigation or heavy rain which will cause soil to compact and crust. (2) High temperatures can keep seed from germinating.

Seeds rot or seedlings collapse with dark water-soaked stems as soon as they appear. Damping off is a fungus that lives in the soil, particularly where humidity is high. Do not plant in cold, moist soil. Make sure soil is well drained. Avoid overcrowding carrots and parsnips.

Carrots emerge in clumps or not at all. Seed sown too shallow. Warm weather or dry conditions will cause seed to dry and not germinate. Cover seed with 1 inch of fine aged-compost or vermiculite. Keep soil evenly moist to allow for germination.

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How to Grow Carrots

Carrots are a cool-weather vegetable. Sow carrots in the garden 2 to 3 weeks before the last average frost date in spring. Succession crops can be planted every 2 to 3 weeks until about 12 weeks before the date of the average first frost in autumn. Where winters are mild grow carrots in autumn and winter. Carrots require from 50 to 80 days to reach maturity; baby carrots can be harvested in about 30 days.

How to prepare and cook carrots: click here.

Description. Carrots are hardy biennials grown as annuals. A rosette of finely divided fernlike leaves grow from a swollen fleshy taproot which can vary in size, shape, and color. Depending upon variety, carrots can be tapered and cylindrical, short and fat, round, or finger sized. Some carrots grow to 10 inches long; others are much shorter. Carrots are usually orange, but colors can vary from red to yellow to purple. Shorter varieties are a good choice for heavy soil; long types require loose, loamy soil.

Yield. Plant 30 carrots per household member.

Site. Grow carrots in full sun; carrots will grow more slowly in partial shade. Plant carrots in loose, well-worked soil. Turn soil to 12 inches before planting and add aged compost to the planting beds. Remove clods, rocks, and roots from planting beds; carrots will split, fork, and become malformed if they grow into obstructions. Carrots prefer a soil pH of 5.5 to 6.8.

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Carrots

Tiny carrots steamed whole in butter; young carrots glazed in honey syrup; half-grown carrots served fresh from the garden: carrots need not be taken for granted.

Long an ingredient in stocks, soups, and stews or combined with other vegetables, carrots can stand alone as a flavorful treat.

The key to serving the best, tasty carrots are freshly harvested carrots not too small and not too large.

Carrots are a cool-season biennial grown as an annual. The peak season for carrots stretches from fall to late spring as long as the weather stays mild. Young, tender, spring carrots can be found at farmers’ markets now.

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Nantes Carrots

The Nantes carrot was first described in a nineteenth century French vegetable seed catalog in this way: “Root almost perfectly cylindrical…skin very smooth…flesh of the root entirely red, very sweet and mild in flavor….”

The Nantes carrot takes its name from the city on the Atlantic coast of France where the surrounding countryside is ideal for its cultivation. (“It only attains its full quality in a mellow, deep soil…,” wrote Henri Vilmorin in the 1885 edition of his family’s seed catalog.)

Shortly after its introduction, the Nantes became a kitchen garden favorite and its reputation (and cultivation) rightfully spread far and wide.

Today there are more than a half dozen varieties of carrots that specifically bear the Nantes name, but more generally Nantes has come to embody a quite large (more than 40 members) class of medium-sized cylindrical carrots rounded at both the top and tip. In general, Nantes cultivars are known for being sweeter and tenderer than other carrots.

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