When I was a kid living in rural Massachusetts, there was a lady who lived across the street who had a large fenced-in vegetable garden. I don’t recall her name, but we could call her Mrs. McGregor. She was a bit on the cranky side, and at first, she thought I was up to mischief when I hung around the outside of the garden and began asking about her gardening techniques.
When Mrs. McGregor realized that I was truly interested in learning how to garden, one day she grudgingly opened the gate and motioned for me to come inside her patch of paradise. That started a series of mini gardening lessons, each ending with me being able to pick whatever delish veggie I wanted and eat it right then and there.
In time, she gave me carte blanche to go into the patch even when she wasn’t around and eat whatever I wanted. The other neighbor kids would gasp and say that I was going to “get into big trouble” as I dined on veggies in the garden, but I knew better.
I still remember the thrill of eating straight from Mrs. McGregor’s outdoor cupboard. My favorite crop to munch on was the carrots. They were so crispy and sweet.
When I started gardening in my own vegetable patch in SoCal in the late 1980s, I tried carrots, but soon found they didn’t grow like Mrs. McGregor’s. The big reasons were a difference in climate and soil. After some experimenting, I did figure out the secrets to growing carrots in Southern California.
Here are my top four tips for growing carrots in Southern California:
1) Don’t plant the seed too deeply. Carrot seeds are tiny and should be sprinkled on the soil surface and covered with a 1/8-inch layer of lightweight potting soil or seed starting mix.
2) Make sure to plant in easy-to-work soil. Carrots will do poorly in compacted soil, becoming stunted or forked.
3) Keep the soil moist until the seedlings emerge and then never let the seedlings dry out.
4) Have patience. Carrot seeds take 2 to 3 weeks to germinate. Then it takes another 40 to 120 days before harvesting.
Learn more about growing carrots and 40 more veggies in my book Southern California Vegetable Gardening, which you can get in paperback and eBook, and can be read for free on Kindle Unlimited.
