Watching your progress with interest—I’m trying to grow carrots in heavy, cracking clay in Colorado. Very different climate, but similar soil.
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I am so very excited for the outcome of this as my clay makes root vegetables difficult for my low level of skill.
I would also note that Yacon does not prefer heavy clay soil in my experience. So if you wanted another landrace opportunity… 
Went inside to get a mega pint of sweet tea. It’s 100 degrees outside, feels like 108. If I was an older man with more wisdom, I think I would pass on this.
Job complete. I did a quick count. It’s about 85 carrots. Maybe 20 varieties have survived so far. I expected mass extinction at rapid pace. Hopefully I get 10 plants that are successful. That should be a lot of seeds.
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There is hope in the garden this morning. Some of the carrot roots are sending up green.
Also, I took the defective slippy slide off and will scratch up some dirt to prepare this bed to take my carrot seed varieties. I probably have about 35 varieties now.
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The bed is almost ready to plant. I’ve got my seeds in their little compartments. I probably have about 50 - 100 seeds in each compartment for most varieties. Have 35 varieties to plant. I will measure out the length of the bed and divide by 35. Then I will come up with a spacing per row.
I believe this is mostly a clay loam with a small amount of sand and organic matter. About one foot deep is heavy clay. I cannot penetrate my finger in the under layer even a half inch. This pulverized bed is maybe 6” high. I have pulverized dirt maybe 10 inches below the bottom. So I expect most of it is pulverized up to 15 inches deep. This is all hard won garden bedding. The cost was $0 as no inputs were added. It took a whole bucket of elbow grease and a pint of sweat equity.
The centipede grass is monster here in the south. The trench layer is about the width of my stirrup hoe. I can easily control the grass invasion using this method.
I have my first carrot flower. I have about 25 survivors left from my vernalized batch. About 5 - 10 of that number are weak and on their way out. I am not sure I will find success on this batch. I might get 0-2 failure. I’ve also attached an image of my new carrot bed planted with about 35 varieties.
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It’s not looking good for the odds of the vernalized carrots to produce seed this year. I have survivors but only one has flowered. My average frost frost is 23 days away. I have not seen any pollinators around lately. I occasionally brush one umbel against another in effort to spread pollen but I doubt it’s working.
Here are a couple images of the flowered carrot:
Here are a couple images of the vernalized survivors:
Here is an image of carrots planted maybe 5 or 6 weeks ago:
Here is an image of carrots planted 2-3 weeks ago:
I am still in the middle of thinning out the new bed, and the thinned out rows are barely visible due to age.
I am the carrot seed steward this time, and I was unable to produce seeds this year despite 2 attempts. I have attached an image of the seeds I plan to supply for the GTS community. This is a mix of 2 varieties I purchased: Imperator 58 and Danvers 126.
The seed supply needs diversity. If anyone would like to contribute some seeds, here’s the link: Crops for 2024 – Going To Seed.
Have you thought about finding an alternate species that is the functional equivalent of carrots, suitable for your location? I have up on carrots in the subtropics even though I was making decent progress turning them into a winter annual.
Yes but I haven’t failed enough to get deterred yet. Maybe if I fail 5 times I will finally give up.
I have an emotional connection with carrots. It is the first crop I grew successfully. It is also one of the few vegetables my kids will eat willingly.
Maybe rooted parsnip could take its place
You might need to do some more radical widening of your genetics. How about bringing in another Daucus species to add some weedy vigor, then back crossing to cultivated forms? Daucus pusillus grows in Texas- Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center - The University of Texas at Austin
Here is a paper on production of a Daucus interspecies hybrid- Interspecific Hybrid Daucus carota x D. capillifolius on JSTOR
It is worth remembering that carrot was only converted from a thin rooted herbal plant (grown for its medicinal/spice seeds primarily) to a vegetable in the last few centuries. Coriander and parsley have partly gone through a similar process in select strains.
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This is an interesting idea to me. I am looking into it, thanks.
It looks weak to me. I am wondering if any carrot varieties were breed specifically to complete their life cycle in a hot, humid environment with alternating periods of heavy rain and drought while growing in clay with zero aid except for weeding and a water schedule from germination until a couple weeks after the plant gets established. Then intermittent watering if necessary.
I heard Kuroda would do well, but none of the varieties are far exceeding the others. That leads me to the conclusion at least none of the 35 different ones I’ve planted have received this stimulus.
Carrots grow well for me in terms of getting a good root. Getting a seed crop is where I am struggling. I am going to keep trying different variations of things I can control and pay close attention. I might be doing something that is reported to work in Wisconsin for example but doesn’t work in my climate.
I plan to leave any carrots in the ground while selecting for them the best I can without pulling them up. That way, maybe not being pulled out of the ground and having my entire winter outdoors would keep them healthy enough to complete their life cycle. I will also probably pull some up and vernalize as well to notice any different results.
I can’t say I have experience in growing carrot seeds, but my intuition says that that might be result of poor rooting in hot and dry and it’s using mainly main root to grow. Maybe better time would be to plant them once cool weather sets in and they can start to grow once temperatures are right for them.
In relation to the discussion of carrot seed sources, this seems like a suitable time to mention freeheirloomseeds.org. It’s a volunteer-based seed exchange in the United States with a totally different structure than Going to Seed or Seed Savers Exchange (two that I am familiar with). I have requested seed from their list twice and it has gone well.
I just checked their website for carrots. Their site is unique, it feels like a digital version of a printed catalog. Currently these are the carrot seeds which they are distributing. They are requested by sending an email with all of your requests and your backup choices in case something has run out.
- #CAR4-Carrot - Shin Kuroda, 5" Main Season Carrots, tender & sweet Japanese stump rooted carrot
- #CAR10-Carrot - Bambino, (60+/- Days) Organic, Gourmet “fingerling” carrot is best harvested at 4-5 inches for peak flavor, appx. 1/4 tsp per request
- #CAR13-Carrot - Tendersweet, (74 Days) Well loved heirloom carrot is coreless, sweet & grows to 9" with a straight smooth look if unobstructed
- #CAR15-Carrot - Parisian, (60 Days) Little round golfball sized carrots do not grow long so they still come through in heavy soils, limited availability!! Choose another variety for more seed
- #CAR16-Carrot - Little Finger, (55 Days) Adorable & flavorful mini carrots. Delivers an early harvest of sweet little carrots
- #CAR17-Carrot - Amsterdam, (70 Days) 4-6" Bright orange, nantes style carrots,AKA - Amsterdam Forcing
- #CAR19-Carrot - Tonds di Parigi, (55 Days) 19th century heirloom from Paris is a classic squat round parisian type carrot. Small carrot bulbs are easily grown on compact soil.
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I’ve tried both spring and fall planting, and I’ve had good luck with both situations in terms of just getting a decent sized root to harvest. I think most varieties were adapted in northern countries to be a cool weather crop. Being a biannual, it makes more sense to plant in fall, especially since the spring beds have so many good choices to choose from what to plant. And the fall garden has less desirable choices/competition for what to plant.
Some good thoughts there. The idea of avoiding restrictive boxes is appealing. Discovering new things about crops by testing them outside of conventional norms is rewarding! “There is no spoon.”
Have you tried in the middle of the winter? Naturally they would start to grow early in the spring which in your climate might be more like winter. They don’t need that much warmth to grow. I’m not sure if they are adabted to northern climate or if it’s just close enough to their natural climate that is more like your latitude, but just high up in highlands. Planting roots in your spring might already be too late, and planting now too early.
I have watched my carrots growing in winter here. I was disappointed last winter when they seemed to hibernate for half of it. They got knocked back on a hard freeze. Most of the tops died off and then started to come back after about a week or two later. That batch was planted in the fall but did not manage to fully mature until early spring. I don’t think they grew much in winter but I could be wrong.
I have not planted carrot seeds in winter. That is an interesting thought. I think I will try that and see what happens. I’ve got 3 batches out there now already in different life stages. I will likely continue that pattern of planting often and regularly and observe.