Carrots - How to grow them "weed free" in our paper mulch
Posted by Mike on Feb 15th 2014
We receive questions about growing different vegetables in our mulches. This note is to share a technique we've used to grow carrots. We hope it is helpful
Carrot seed is tiny and difficult to sow and even more difficult to grow without a total overtaking of the crop by weeds - the bain of every gardener!
"Weed Free" Carrot Growing
- Roll out the WeedGuard mulch over a prepared bed
- Hold down with soil along the edges or EcoStakes
- With a box cutter knife, make a 4-6 ft long parallel to the edge slit about 1 ft in from the edge
- Make a 4" "cross" slit at each end of the long slit |----------------------------|
- You are making a long "door" which the carrots will open and grow through
- It should look like this
- Gently pry the door open a little, enough to sow in the carrot seed
- Roll the carrot seeds between your forefinger and thumb so 1 seed drops every inch or so
- Spread some soil on top of the sowed row and close the door (leave 1/2" open for light)
10. Gently irrigate the rows with a light spray of water, do this every day until germination
11. In about 10-21 days (in the test in our mulch, the seeds germinated in about 10 days)
they will germinat and "push the door open"
12. Watch them grow "Weed Free"
