Overwintering carrots

Overwintering carrots

Peter Norris
April 9, 2017

The early carrots may be earlier this year than previous years. Inspired by the back of a letter carrot seeds from Impecta, which to my surprise stated that you could also sow in October-November, I sowed in October. The varieties Laguna and Nantes 5 came into the ground in the mist bench on October 17, and then largely forgotten. And when there was a fairly severe frost here sometime in November, I did not expect them to ever show up either. But they did. When I opened the bench on December 6, a reasonably nice germination could be found in the rows for both varieties.

Over the winter, the small carrot sprouts have a layer of non-woven fabric over them with the prospect of more than just a bit of night frost, and otherwise they are fitted with a bit of water here where the sun started to warm the ground again. In mid-March (when the soil temperature hit 8 °) it has been sown with Nantes where there have been holes in the rows, but the germination percentage has certainly not been greater than at the October sowing. In the picture, the new sprouts can be seen just between the "old" roots. In other words, there is some indication that the experiment should be repeated again this year.