We’ll be enjoying some colorful carrots this summer!

This morning I planted four varieties of carrots into a raised bed in the veggie garden. Other than the garlic bed, this is the first bed I’ve planted this growing season. It felt great to begin the planting, and I hope to have all eleven other veggie beds planted by mid-April.

I selected the largest bed, about 3’x9′, and surveyed the soil. Because crop rotation is the best practice, this is a bed I haven’t grown carrots in previously.

I then thoroughly screened the soil and worked it to about 12″ deep, even though Hubby had helped a few days ago by turning the soil in all the beds. Carrots do best in loose, fine soil, and even small rocks in carrot beds create roots with crazy shapes.

I watered the soil thoroughly and evened out the obvious dips and hills. Next, I divided the bed into four quadrants and drew three shallow lines or rows in each quadrant about 4-6″ apart.

Once I’d sprinkled seed in each row I gently tamped the soil down and sprinkled water again.

I had enough seed to tuck away extra from two of the varieties for successive plantings. The ones I planted today included a couple mysteries:  Atomic Red (leftover from last year, so a sure thing), Solar Yellow (new-to-me this year and purportedly best harvested young), Machew Jadaina Koral (which should be orange carrots but arrived in a packet with a photo of yellow variety Jaune Obtuse du Doubs carrots!), and a free packet marked “Carrot” from Ed Hume with a photo resembling Danvers Half Longs. That packet was added to my order of veggie seed with encouragement to feed the hungry so I’ll be sure to gather them for the food bank. It will be great fun to see what all comes up — or actually what grows down!

After all that time in the rich brown soil I needed a shot of color. The Brunnera macrophylla along the gravel stairway helped out.