Types of Carrots

Growing carrots can be hit or miss. For some people it's super easy and some people the carrots never get big. It mainly comes down to what type of soil you have and watering. It takes carrots 10-30 days to germinate. My soil makes bricks so growing root veggies can be challenging. Last year my soil was making bricks, but I still got giant potatoes and carrots. Now if you have raised beds you should get beautiful carrots as long as you monitor moisture levels and you used a 3 or 4 way soil to fill the beds. Carrots and beets are one of the first seeds I direct seed in spring. I don't have a firm date as to when I get into the garden as it all depends on the weather and how dry my garden is. May long weekend is the goal and I try to have everything planted by May 31, but putting plants in before May 31 is a risk because of frost.

Nantes are sweet, crisp, cylindrical carrots, with blunt tips. Perform well in rocky and clay soil and if allowed to get bigger won't get woody.

Imperator are the carrots you typically found in grocery stores. These carrots have long roots. These tend to have a higher sugar content than other carrots. They need really loose, sandy, and fine soil to grow long roots.

Danvers carrots are long, skinny, taper to a point and typically are orange in color. These tend to grow better if you don't have ideal soil.

Chantenay typically only reach 6 to 7 inches long making them very short and broad. Grows well in terrible soil, rocky or clay. If allowed to grow big they can get woody. These carrots are not ideal carrots to grow.

Mini Carrots, just like the name suggests these are baby and/or round carrots (size of radishes). They perform well in clay and rocky soil.

If you want to store carrots the best kind to look for are thick cored carrots. Some varieties that are good storage types are: Bolero, Napoli, and Yellowstone. There are six ways to store carrots for the winter: canning, freezing, pickling, dehydrating, cold storage such as a root cellar, and refrigeration. Canning carrots requires them to be pressured canned and they have to be peeled. In a later post I'll tell you how you can store root vegetables in a cool area or in the fridge.

Pickled carrot recipe and how to dehydrate carrots.