In the checkout line at Walter Andersen Nursery a guy said to me, “Carrot seedlings? Wow, you’re bold.”
“Yeah . . .” I said. “You know, sometimes you’ve got to try things that everyone says can’t be done.”
“OK.”
“How do you know you can’t grow carrots by transplanting seedlings if you’ve never tried?”
That’s the question I try to ask anyone who gives growing advice: How do you know? Often, it turns out, they only know because they’ve read it somewhere or heard someone say so. But that’s not good enough.
So I bought those seedlings of Nantes carrots and planted them on January 18. I figured the danger was that the roots wouldn’t grow straight or uniformly if I didn’t have loose and uniform soil for them, so I tilled a little row, and then upon planting I did my best to set the long carrot root tip straight down and deep into that row. Come late March I pulled the first one up.
“I’m eating like a bunny,” said Cass. He has been pulling up at least two carrots a day and walking around the yard “eating like a bunny.”
The roots formed fairly well, I was surprised to find. There are occasional forks, but they taste sweet and are certainly an acceptable crop overall. And considering the fact that they grew to harvest size in two months (it feels like carrot seeds take almost that long to germinate sometimes!), and that they cost less than a packet of seeds ($3 seedlings versus $3.49 seeds), I will grow carrots from seedlings again for sure.
Now what should I try next that the experts tell us can’t be done?
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