Hello, I'm Jerry Goodspeed
with Utah State University Extension
and we're here at the beautiful
Ogden botanical garden in Ogden, Utah.
And today we're going to talk a little bit
about planting carrots from seed
because this becomes a problem
for some people.
One of the problems
is the carrot seeds are so small -
that when you start to plant them
they get lost.
You either have too many
or you don't have enough of them.
The other problem with them is because
they are so small sometimes its hard to
get them to germinate - you put them
in the soil and they don't
come up very well.
So we're just going to give you
a couple hints today and we're going
to do it in a raised bed.
We have raised beds here at the garden
and we always recommend, especially
carrots, growing them in a little bit
of a raised bed.
Whether its a physical hard shaped
or if you're just mounding it in your own
garden, the carrots will do a little bit
better with a raised bed because they
don't a hard pane to deal with or some
other obstruction they'll have to deal
with and get the forked look - kinda a
funny look to them.
So we do it in a raised bed and this is
one of our raised beds here that we do for
our vegetable gardens.
Here we also have a drip system and so
what we will do is we're gonna plant the
carrots right down the middle of this
drip system and you can see our tubing
here - this helps us conserve water and it
also allows us to put the water where the
plants are - where the carrots are gonna
be coming up.
So because carrots are so small and all
they don't need to be planted very deep
at all.
You can hardly see them in your hand when
you put them in there.
But some people have a tendency
with carrots and with other plants
to plant them too deep.
And they really don't take much
depth at all.
So what we will do is we're gonna prepare
a very narrow row where we're gonna put
down our seeds - our carrot seeds.
We'll just do this.
And then what I like to do
I mean you can do them by hand so you
can throw them into your hand and then
very carefully put em' out.
But what I like to do is use and old
salt shaker - I've removed the salt.
And that's really important to know
because salt and seeds don't go
very good together.
In fact they really don't like each
other at all.
So make sure you get all the salt out of
there and rinse it out and then what I do
is I put my carrot seeds in here cause they
come out about the rate that I want
and then its much easier for me.
So I'll just kinda go here and just kinda
shake it like I'm shaking my salt onto
my salad and I'll just work my way down
here as I shake.
You can see them coming out.
Just like you're salting something
you're about to eat.
Then of course I'm a kinda person
that goes back over just because
I'm that way.
Now the next thing after we've got our
seeds spread out there -
I will take some potting soil
and to me this is a critical part.
Now it doesn't have to be potting soil
but it has to be something very light that
those small germinating seeds can up
through.
Some people will use sand but what I like
to use is just a good potting
soil, that's it.
I'll just take some potting soil because
it won't crust and those little carrots
will be able to come right up through it.
I will just put them right over that row
instead of filling it back in with the
soil - I just put some potting soil over
it - it's very light, holds moisture
really good - just like that.
There you go, now your carrots
are planted.
What you're gonna wanting to be doing
now is making sure you're applying water
to em' on a regular basis not allowing
that to dry out.
And they should be germinating on a
good day and a good temperature in a
about 7-10 days.
The other thing you want to make sure of
is that carrots can be planted in the
early spring or even in the late fall they
are a cool season plant.
Some people like to plant them in the fall
and them harvest them throughout the winter
just leave them into the ground as well.
As far as fertilization goes, this is the
time we'll also fertilize and what I
normally do is I will just make a row
right next to my carrots maybe 1-2 inches
to the side like this.
And then I will just plant a little bit
of fertilizer into that row.
I will normally use something just an all
purpose fertilizer and a all purpose food
these are just generic.
I've always heard it said which is the
best fertilizer, well its that which is
on sale.
What you're looking for is something
what we call an all purpose where
the numbers are very similar.
This is an 8 16 16
This is a 4 10 8
So they're pretty close those
three numbers.
You'll want to plant that row
of fertilizer down here and then just
cover it up.
One of the reasons that we like to
put the fertilizer to the side and not
in the seed or with the seed is because
that can burn the seed and the fertilizer
is really a salt and too much of it
especially when those plants are very
small its not going to be very good for
your seed, it will actually kill them.
I use the salt shaker, make sure its clean
but there's no salt in there.
When you're spreading your seed and
keep your fertilizer at a side, away from
the seeds, a couple inches at least.
Now that fertilizer is right where those
carrots needed as they start to emerge
and grow those roots can go out
and find that row of fertilizer.
Make sure you do not put the fertilizer
in the same row, make sure you move it
about and inch or two to the side
about an inch into the ground
and you're set to go.