Status: Carrot documentary started 5/10/23, updated 1/30/26, and ended (to be determined).
Carrot Documentary Outline:
- Introduction
- How We Grow Carrots
- Facts About Carrots
- Reviewing Carrot Varieties
- Gallery
- Recipes with Carrots
1. Introduction
This is my kids’ on-going documentary as we experiment grow different frost-tolerant and heat-tolerant carrot varieties each year in Oviedo, Florida and tasting each variety to find out what we like and dislike.
2. How We Grow Carrots
We use a 15-gallon size pot to grow carrots. My kids help me mix our DIY potting soil. I will also try going carrots in a Vego Garden’s 17-inch deep raised bed. The following is my potting recipe for a 15-gallon pot for soil for growing carrots.
- 1/3 coarse perlite
- 1/3 Mushroom Compost or compost that has broken down after six months
- 1/3 Peat Meat Moss
- 1 cup worm casting
- 1 cup Bone Meal
- 1/2 cup Oscomote fertilizer for vegetables and herbs
The kids help me fill up the pots and sow the seeds. One year the neighbor’s daughter wanted to participate in our carrot growing project so she joined in with the kids.
When sowing seeds, I help them form a trench line on each row and the kids sprinkle seeds in the row. The rows are three inches apart. Once the seedlings start emerging, the kids helped me thin out the seedlings leaving 3-finger spaces between the seedlings.
They are in charge making sure to water their carrots every two days. This is what my little man slack off on so his carrots are much smaller and skinnier at harvest time. I leave the potted carrots near the sidewalk so the neighbor’s daughter can water her carrots after school when she comes by to check on her carrots. She is so cute!
After so many days, the kids enjoy harvesting the carrots.
3. Facts About Carrots
- Carrots are annual vegetables.
- There are frost-tolerant carrots and heat-tolerant carrots depending on the variety.
- The sizes and shape of carrots varies depending on amount of watering, sunlight it gets, and the variety.
- “Carrots’ leaves are edible! Treat it like parsley.”
- Carrots are a cool-weather crop. It doesn’t grow well in temperature above 85F. But a few varieties are listed as heat-tolerant so I will have to find out how heat-tolerant those are in zone 9B/10B of Florida.
- Carrots need full sun so give it at least six to eight hours of sunlight.
- Carrots need to be watered at least three times a week.
- Carrots come in different colors such as white, yellow, light orange, dark orange, purple, reddish purple, and even dark purple!
- Carrots should be spaced out at least 2-inches apart when planting or thinning.
- Carrots’ juice can make a natural orange food coloring. The kids will experiment with that.
- Carrots can be grown from seed in rich organic soil in the ground or in a pot that has a depth deep enough for the mature size carrot roots to fit in. I like growing carrots in a Haviland’s 35-gallon squat pot that are 15-inches deep and the pot is very wide if you are on a budget.
- Carrot seeds should be direct sown into soil and then thin out nearby seedlings. Transplant or disturbance of the carrot roots can stunt the growth of carrots.
- Hmmm… I think that’s all the kids and I need to know about growing carrots.
4. Reviewing Carrots
2026:
1. Carrot: Rainbow Mix from Urban Farmer – Tested in Spring 2023
- Mature in 65 days
- Mature roots are 6″-12″ long at their peak
- Taste & Profile: The kids and I only like to eat the white, yellow, and orange carrots. The reddish purple carrots make my soup broth dark and murky. Kids like seeing and growing the different colored carrots though. The flavor of the purplish-red carrots didn’t appeal to me either. The yellow and white carrots are sweet.
2. Carrot: Calliope Blend from Botanical Interests – Testing in Spring 2024
- (insert homegrown image)
- Date sow: 2/20/24
- Mature in 76-75 days
- Roots are 8″–10″ long at their peak
- Frost Tolerant
- Taste & Profile: ORANGE: Orange skin, orange interior, tapered roots. PURPLE: Purple skin, orange interior, tapered roots. RED: Red skin, yellow interior, rounded ends. YELLOW : Yellow skin, yellow interior, tapered roots. WHITE: White skin, white interior, rounded ends.
3. Carrot: Carnival Blend from Botanical Interests -Testing in Spring 2024
- (insert homegrown image)
- Date Sow: 2/20/24
- Mature in 65-75 days
- Roots are 8″–10″ long at their peak
- PURPLE: Purple skin, orange interior, tapered roots. RED: Red skin, yellow interior, rounded ends. YELLOW: Yellow skin, yellow interior, tapered roots. ORANGE: Orange skin, orange interior, tapered roots.
- Frost tolerant
- Taste Profile:
4. Carrot: Kuroda Shin from Urban Farmer – Testing in Spring 2024
- Date sow: 2/20/24
- Mature in 75 days
- Mature size: Roots are 5″-long with wide shoulders
- Frost tolerant & Heat-tolerant: great for sowing in late summer and maybe through the summer too
- Native of Japan
- Type: Heirloom
- Taste & Profile: The Kuroda Shin carrot is a popular Oriental carrot with a nice sweet flavor and perhaps one of the sweetest carrot variety. This variety is a great addition to any Oriental stir fry dish, soups, and great for juicing as well.
Note: I will have the kids test grow these carrot seed varieties in the future from Urban Farmer website. I didn’t know there are over a dozen varieties of carrots!
5. Carrot: Culinary Blend – from Urban Farmer
- Date sow: TBD
- Mature in 75 days
- Mature size: Roots are 6′-12′ inches long
- Frost Tolerant
- Taste & Profile: The Culinary Blend carrots contain a tasty mix of yellow, white, and orange carrots. Each variety is suited for both baby root production and cooking. This blend is excellent roasted in the oven. All three varieties are prized for flavor and color.
7. Carrot: Ingot F1 – from Urban Farmer
- Date sow: TBD
- Mature in __ days
- Mature size:
- Frost Tolerant
- Taste & Profile:
8. Carrot: Cosmic Purple – from Urban Farmer
- Date sow: TBD
- Mature in __ days
- Mature size:
- Taste & Profile:
9. Carrot: Scarlet Nantes – from Urban Farmer
- Date sow: TBD
- Mature in 75 days
- Mature size: Roots are 6″–7″ long at their peak
- Frost Tolerant
- Taste & Profile: Scarlet Nantes carrot has a deep orange, sweet, crisp, cylindrical root; nearly coreless.
10. Carrot: Fancy Nantes – from Urban Farmer
- Date sow: TBD
- Mature in 72 days, ready to harvest at 40-50 days
- Mature size: 4″-8″ inch long
- Frost Tolerant
- Spacing: 1″-2″
- Taste & Profile: Fancy Nantes carrot is very sweet and crisp flesh, long storage life, coreless.
11+ Oh there’s so many more different varieties of carrots when I searched online from seed companies, but I narrowed down to test the ten above selections.
Note: I’m working on redoing the layout of my backyard so all my potted trees are temporarily in the front yard until it’s done.
5. Carrots Growth Progress Gallery
Pictures date stamped in chronical order.
6. Recipes with Carrots
To be updated: I am going to teach the three kids how to make carrot cake to end this documentary.
Behind the Scene:
My little man was so naughty. When I told the kids it’s harvest time for their carrots, he ran to the backyard to yank out all the carrots while big sis went to the restroom. I didn’t even have a chance to grab my big camera for the big harvesting moment. Oh it was a drama scene. I had to calm big sis down, stick the carrots back into the soil and took some photos of each of them as if they both harvested the carrots. 😂
