http://durgan.org/2016/April%202016/22%20April%202016%20Carrots/HTML/ 22 April 2016 Carrots Germinating carrot seed using the board method. The small seeds are planted using a shaker with appropriate sized dispensing holes to get reasonable spacing with minimum effort. The seeds are lightly covered with soil and gently packed into the soil. Watered lightly. Spacer ribs installed to raise the board to allow some space for the emerging plants. Then the board is put in place. The board prevents the seeds from drying out from sun heat, keeps the temperature below 30C, and prevents movement if it rains. The seeds can be watered until they germinate by pouring water on top of the board, enough trickles down to dampen the seeds. The seeds will not germinate if temperature rises above about 30C.
http://durgan.org/2016/May%202016/15%20May%202016%20Carrots%20germinated/HTML/ 15 May 2016 Carrots germinated Germination took about 18 days from planting. It has been a very old Spring Today a bit of snow is forecast.
http://durgan.org/2016/May%202016/29%20May%202016%20Carrots/HTML/ 29 May 2016 Carrots Two rows of carrots are growing well. The small weeds have to be removed by hand. The soil is loose enough so the carrots can almost touch without entwining as they mature. The ground will be mulched later.
The first small carrots were picked today. They have an excellent shape and the soil is soft enough that there is no intertwining in spite of being planted very close.