Broadfork™

Crop guide

Carrots

Carrots go in as seed as soon as the soil can be worked in spring, and again in summer for fall. Getting them up is the hard part: sow shallow, keep the surface moist.

Grown in Ohio, zone 6a. Your frost dates move the calendar; the signals don't. Broadfork goes by where your garden is, not its zone: frost dates for your ZIP code in the US, or the ones you type in anywhere else.

Nine minutes to read. Each section stands on its own.

A carrot ready to pull, its feathery green fronds rising from an orange shoulder at the soil line, and its long tapering orange root in the soil below.
What you plant
Seed, sown where it will grow. Moving a carrot damages its taproot.
When
Early spring, 2 to 3 weeks before the last frost, once the soil reaches 40 °F; some data waits for 45. Again 10 to 12 weeks before the first frost, for fall.
How deep
1/4 to 1/2 inch. The data runs from 1/8 inch to 3/4.
How far apart
2 to 3 inches apart once thinned; the data runs from 1 to 4. Rows 12 to 18 inches apart, up to 24. The app plants 16 per square foot, 3 inches apart.
Sun and soil
Full sun, at least 6 hours. Deep, loose soil that drains, free of stones and clods.
Frost
Semi-hardy: a light frost is fine and a hard freeze isn't, and the roots take more cold than the tops.
Family
Apiaceae, the carrot family, with parsnip, celery, fennel, parsley, cilantro and dill.
Harvest
From 3/4 inch across, 6 to 8 weeks from sowing; past 1 to 1 1/2 inches the core turns woody. Days to harvest run from 50 to 120, by type and place.
Soil pH
About 6 to 7; some data aims for 6.0 to 6.5.
winterspringsummerfall first sowing2 to 3 weeks before the last frost last frost sow again every 2 to 3 weeks first pulling6 to 8 weeks on last sowing10 to 12 weeks before the first frost first fall frosta light frost is fine under mulch, dug until the ground freezes
  1. springFirst sowing 2 to 3 weeks before the last frost, the soil at 40 °F.
  2. summerSow again every 2 to 3 weeks; the first pulling comes 6 to 8 weeks on.
  3. summerLast sowing for fall, 10 to 12 weeks before the first frost.
  4. fallA light frost is fine; under mulch, dig until the ground freezes.
The carrot's year. It runs from the last frost to the first, so your frost dates set it. The green bar is the pulling.

Planting#

Sow 2 to 3 weeks before the last frost, in soil of at least 40 °F; some data waits for 45. Seed comes up best at 55 to 65 °F, up to 75 in other data.

Loosen the bed 8 to 9 inches deep, take out the stones and clods, and never work it wet. Fresh manure and woody debris make rough, branched roots; use finished compost.

Sow 1/4 to 1/2 inch deep, 2 or 3 seeds to the inch, mixed with dry sand to spread them. Firm the soil and water gently. The data splits on summer sowings: one source goes to 3/4 inch in dry, warm soil, another never deeper, since the seedling may not make it up.

Keep the surface moist until they're up, 2 to 3 weeks, longer in cold soil: a dry surface or a crust stops them. Water lightly every day or two, or cover the row with vermiculite, sawdust or peat moss. Radish sown in the row marks it and breaks the crust.

Thin them soon after they're up: the data runs from 1 inch tall to 3 or 4, and the roots reach full length within three weeks. Cut the extras off at the soil; some data pulls them. Crowded carrots make all top and no root.

For a steady supply, sow a short row every 2 to 3 weeks; the data runs to every 4. The data stops summer sowings in mid-July. For fall, count back 10 to 12 weeks from the first frost.

From the beds in OhioTwo tricks for getting them up. Lay an old board over a fresh row for a few days to keep it moist for germination. And mix about 1/4 teaspoon of seed into a cup of damp play sand in a bag, cut off a corner, and squeeze it into a shallow furrow: the sand spaces the seed, so more comes up and there's less to thin.

In Broadfork On a carrot row, Plant again opens the add form for the same carrot, dated two weeks on, our default interval.

Short season Where the season is short, sow from mid-April, two or three times, three weeks apart. A bed mounded 10 to 12 inches high, rows running north and south, gains a few degrees.

Mild winter Where winters are mild, carrots grow through the cool months, sown from August on through the winter. Pull spring sowings before the heat makes them strong-flavored and fibrous.

soil surface1/4 to 1/2 ina thin cover,kept moist until they're up 3 inone square foot, 16 carrots3 in apart is howthe app plants them;in a row, the datathins them 1 to 4 inapart 2 to 3 inrows 12to 18 inor in rows, thinned
In the ground. Seed barely covered, 1/4 to 1/2 inch deep. At the app's spacing, 16 carrots fill a square foot, 3 inches apart; a row is thinned to 1 to 4. In rows, thin them to 2 to 3 inches, the rows 12 to 18 inches apart.

The season in between#

Give them at least 1 inch of water a week, and keep it even: drought makes small, tough, bitter roots, and dry then wet splits them. Ease off near harvest, when too much water cracks them.

Water in the morning, at the soil, so the leaves dry and leaf blight stays off.

Go easy on nitrogen, which makes big tops and little root: about 1.5 pounds of 10-10-10 per 100 square feet before planting. Most data side-dresses once, when the tops are about 4 inches tall; one source says carrots don't need it.

Carrots can't shade out weeds, so weed early and shallow: deep hoeing cuts the roots. Once they're up, 3 to 4 inches of weed-free straw or herbicide-free grass clippings holds the water and stops the weeds.

Shoulders that push above the soil turn green and taste off: pull loose soil over them as the roots swell, about 40 to 50 days from sowing.

Roots that finish in hot weather turn pale, strong-flavored and fibrous. Above 85 °F, water well and mulch to cool the soil.

Mild winter Where winters are mild, carrots grow through the dry season, so the watering matters more.

Harvest#

Pull them as soon as they're big enough to use, most at 3/4 inch across, over the next 3 to 4 weeks; some data starts at 1/2 inch. Past 1 to 1 1/2 inches the core turns woody.

Water the day before, then loosen the soil beside the row with a fork before pulling, or the tops break and the roots snap.

Plan on about 1 pound per foot of row: 5 to 10 feet a person fresh, 10 to 15 more to store.

Fall carrots can wait in the ground, and the data splits on how long. Most of it says to cover the soil with thick straw or shredded leaves before the ground freezes and dig all winter on days above freezing; one source lays 6 to 8 inches. A low tunnel keeps the snow off. Another source digs them all before the first moderate freeze. Where carrot rust fly lives, none stay in over winter.

No data gives a date to dig the last of them in spring. Left in, a carrot flowers in its second season.

In Broadfork On a carrot planting still in the ground in fall, the app puts a winter mulch on your list, due before the ground freezes.

From the beds in OhioCarrots stay in the ground here as long as the ground doesn't freeze.

Storing#

Cut the tops to within 1/2 inch of the root right away, or they draw the water out of it; the data runs to 1 inch. Keep carrots away from apples, which make them bitter.

Store them near 32 °F in damp air, 90 to 95 percent humidity or 98 to 100 in other data: bagged in the refrigerator, where they taste best within 2 weeks, or in damp sand in a cellar. In ideal storage the data runs from 2 to 4 months to 7 to 9.

The data splits on washing: most of it washes and dries them first, one source leaves them unwashed.

To freeze them, blanch small whole carrots 5 minutes and cut ones 2, cool them in ice water, drain and pack. Can them only in a pressure canner.

Carrots for seed take two seasons: dig the roots in fall, store them at 32 to 45 °F and replant in spring. Save your own seed has the rest.

Which carrots#

Nantes are blunt cylinders 6 to 7 inches long; Danvers taper to a point at up to 7; Chantenay are short and broad, 5 to 6; Imperator is long and slender, 7 to 8; miniature and round types run 2 to 3.

The long types want deep, sandy soil. In heavy or shallow ground, grow Chantenay, Danvers or a round type.

The data splits on containers: one source says no, others grow short types in a pot at least 12 inches deep.

In the app's catalog, among others: Danvers Half Long, Scarlet Nantes, Chantenay Red Core, Little Finger, Thumbelina and Purple Haze.

Short season Where the season is short, the data favors Nantes types, with Nelson and Minicor among the earliest.

What goes wrong#

Where it goes next year#

Rotate carrots and their family, parsnip, celery, parsley and dill, out of a bed for 3 to 4 years. For leaf blight the data runs from 2 years to 4.

Turn the old tops under or compost them, and pull any carrots left behind: blight and rust fly carry over in them.

Don't sow into fresh sod, where wireworms wait, or within 3 to 4 weeks of turning under a cereal rye cover crop. Keep straw or manure that may carry weed killer off the bed.

Once the bed is empty, cover the soil rather than leave it bare.

In Broadfork The bed's rotation card counts the rest years for you and says which families are clear to go back in.

Every number on this page comes from a published extension source.

Sources for this guide: University of Minnesota Extension, University of Illinois Extension, Texas A&M AgriLife Extension, UMass Extension, University of Maine Cooperative Extension, Utah State University Extension, University of Georgia Extension, Washington State University Extension, Clemson Cooperative Extension, Colorado State University Extension, Iowa State University Extension and Outreach, Ohio State University Extension, Oregon State University Extension, University of Maryland Extension, University of Wisconsin-Madison Division of Extension, Virginia Cooperative Extension, Alabama Cooperative Extension System, Cornell Cooperative Extension, Mississippi State University Extension, National Center for Home Food Preservation, NC State Extension, NDSU Extension, New Mexico State, Purdue Extension, Rutgers NJAES Cooperative Extension, SDSU Extension, University of Alaska Fairbanks, University of California, University of Delaware Cooperative Extension, University of Florida, University of Missouri Extension, University of Nebraska–Lincoln Extension, University of New Hampshire Extension.

The documents behind this guide (70)

Updated 11/11/2026 · Checked against our sources 11/12/2026

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