I didn’t see a 2026 grow reports thread for carrots, so I’m sharing about my carrot journey here! Feel free to move this if there’s a thread I missed.
Carrots are my Achilles heel. I’ve never been more than slightly successful, but this year is going to be my year.
I’m attempting three growing methods, using a combination of the GTS carrot seeds, and 8-10 heirloom varieties that I had on hand. I opted to pre-sprout my seeds this year, because germination never seems to go well for me, no matter what method I try. So they went into my sprout-growing mason jars for two days with multiple rinses per day, then I dumped them into a coffee filter lined bowel, placed another coffee filter on top as a cover, and added a couple of drops of water if they got fully dry. I had about 70% germination in 5 days.
Method #1: Egg Cartons
Saw this method on some random gardening forum. I got 30 count egg flats, used a wide drill bit to drill out the bottoms of each recess, nested it with a non-butchered flat underneath (so soil wouldn’t fall out), gently packed it with my damp seed starting mix which is mostly a composted wood chip/leaf mold/native soil blend with a little peat and vermiculite, painstakingly placed sprouted seeds in each cup with tweezers, sprinkled some dry mix on top, then took it out to the garden and removed the bottom flat, plopped the tray on the bed, and watered it in pretty good. My hope is that this method will 1. Avoid germination failures, 2. Space carrots perfectly and eliminate the need for thinning, and 3. Eliminate weeding. It was a painstaking process to transfer the seeds over, but I could do it comfortably and ergonomically inside, and I think it might end up being faster in the long run if I don’t have to weed or thin. Hoping that the bottom hole is big enough to avoid forking.
Method #2: Standard Row
Real simple here… trenched a row right next to the egg cartons, sprinkled in the sprouted seeds. They were a little damp and clumped some, but it was a real fast process. Looking to compare my overall experience growing them the “normal” way.
Method #3: Landrace Mulched Bed Attempt
I will not touch these. I will not touch these. I will not touch these.
I am going to keep saying that all season and try… really hard… not to touch these 
For this batch, I cleared all the organic material (straw, leaf mold, leaves, dead ryegrass, other dead plant material, occasional wood chip) off my bed, sprinkled all the sprouted seeds I had left, covered it all with the more soil-like material, then sprinkled a significant amount of looser organic material over the top. My goal is to NOT.TOUCH.THESE and just see what can thrive in my normal bed conditions, with obstacles to push past and crowding and possibly weeds. Excited about this batch!
I will report back later in the spring on how it’s all gone!
