How to Grow Carrots and Beets From Seed

Growing root crops can be a delightful experience because the results are always unexpected and reveal themselves only at harvest time. In this guide, we’ll explore how to cultivate carrots and beets from seeds, each with its unique requirements.

Carrots

Growing carrots is both exciting and challenging due to their sensitivity to soil conditions. Unless you have well-draining, sandy soil, consider using a raised bed or a container filled with a light potting mix.

Carrot seeds are tiny, making the broadcasting method preferable. Scatter the seeds evenly; there’s no need to cover them. Ensure they remain consistently moist during the next 2-3 weeks by regularly spraying them with a spray bottle.
Alternatively, you can pre-sprout your carrots. Begin by placing carrot seeds on a pre-moistened potting mix on a paper plate. After generously spreading the seeds, seal the plate in a Ziploc bag and refrigerate it for 24 hours.
Following this, provide bottom heat to the plate. A seedling heat mat set at 75°F is ideal. Avoid direct sunlight, as this can overheat the seeds.
After sprouting, prepare your garden space. Check for tiny white sprouts twice a day. Green sprouts may still work but act quickly. Transplant them into your garden by lightly covering them with potting mix and watering gently.
As the seedlings grow, use scissors to thin them out, ensuring adequate spacing for proper root development.

Beets

Beets are more forgiving when it comes to soil types, growing reasonably well in various conditions, even helping break up clay soil as they expand.

Beets have larger seeds, making planting straightforward. Like with carrots, thinning will be necessary as they grow. Use scissors for this task.

Fertilization and Watering

Fertilization needs vary between carrots and beets:

For carrots, avoid excessive nitrogen, as it can lead to excessive top growth. Opt for an organic fertilizer with a higher middle number, such as Neptune’s Harvest Rose or bone meal.
Beets, on the other hand, benefit from nitrogen and phosphorus. Neptune’s Harvest Rose and flowering formula or blood meal can be suitable choices.
Consistent watering is crucial for both crops. If the soil dries out too much, beets may develop a woody exterior, and carrots may crack and split.
Interestingly, beets were initially grown for their leaves rather than their roots. You can harvest the leaves while waiting for the roots to mature.

Sequence from	Sequence to	Description
00:00	01:30	Root crops are so much fun to grow because it's always a surprise; you don't know what the outcome is going to be until you harvest it. Carrots are a cold-season crop but they're very finicky about the soil that they're grown in.
01:31	03:01	Unless you have great, light sandy soil in the ground, you're going to want to either grow carrots in a raised bed or in some kind of container that's got a light potting mix. To keep the seeds moist you can broadcast the seeds where they will be growing and cover them with a board and remove the board once you see the sprouts.
03:02	04:09	The other way is to pre-sprout your carrots, and to do that, you need a paper plate and some pre-moistened potting mix. Broadcast your seeds over it, and you want to do this fairly thickly because we will be spreading them out once we're into the next step. Place the plate in a Ziploc bag, zip it closed, and put that plate in the freezer for 24 hours.
04:10	04:39	Once you take it out, place it on top of an appliance that gives off a little bit of heat to give it some bottom heat. A heat mat for seedlings, if you have one set at 75, would work great. A little light is good; just don't put them in the sun; they will cook inside the bag, and then the waiting period begins.
04:40	06:00	You can start to check on them twice a day to see if they've started to germinate again. You're looking for little white sprouts; if you see green, they'll probably still work, but you've waited a little bit too long. Run the sprouts out to the garden, preferably still in the white stage, and sprinkle the sprouts with the potting mix all around the space or in a line if you're growing them in a row.
06:01	07:31	Use scissors to trim the unwanted or crowded seedlings. Beets produce more perfect-shaped roots in lighter soil, but they really will grow in just about anything, and they're actually a bit of a Workhorse in the garden, so if you have clay soil, as the beets start to expand, they can actually help break up that soil.
07:32	08:15	Use scissors, just like carrots, to thin beets. Fertilization for both of these root crops is actually very different. For carrots, too much nitrogen will cause a lot of top growth in the greens but not so much root development. So for carrots, organic fertilizer with a higher middle number like Neptune's Harvest Rose, flowering formula, and bone meal would be good choices.
08:16	08:45	For the beets, they actually love nitrogen and phosphorus, so the rose and flowering formula from Neptune's Harvest Blood Meal or maybe a mixture of the two would be a good choice for them. if you allow the soil to dry out too much, the beets are going to develop a woody exterior the carrots will crack and split so water regularly
08:46	09:40	When beets were grown first, they were grown for their leaves, not roots so as you wait for them to grow, you can harvest the leaves

Sequence from

Sequence to

Description

00:00

01:30

Root crops are so much fun to grow because it's always a surprise; you don't know what the outcome is going to be until you harvest it. Carrots are a cold-season crop but they're very finicky about the soil that they're grown in.

01:31

03:01

Unless you have great, light sandy soil in the ground, you're going to want to either grow carrots in a raised bed or in some kind of container that's got a light potting mix. To keep the seeds moist you can broadcast the seeds where they will be growing and cover them with a board and remove the board once you see the sprouts.

03:02

04:09

The other way is to pre-sprout your carrots, and to do that, you need a paper plate and some pre-moistened potting mix. Broadcast your seeds over it, and you want to do this fairly thickly because we will be spreading them out once we're into the next step. Place the plate in a Ziploc bag, zip it closed, and put that plate in the freezer for 24 hours.

04:10

04:39

Once you take it out, place it on top of an appliance that gives off a little bit of heat to give it some bottom heat. A heat mat for seedlings, if you have one set at 75, would work great. A little light is good; just don't put them in the sun; they will cook inside the bag, and then the waiting period begins.

04:40

06:00

You can start to check on them twice a day to see if they've started to germinate again. You're looking for little white sprouts; if you see green, they'll probably still work, but you've waited a little bit too long. Run the sprouts out to the garden, preferably still in the white stage, and sprinkle the sprouts with the potting mix all around the space or in a line if you're growing them in a row.

06:01

07:31

Use scissors to trim the unwanted or crowded seedlings. Beets produce more perfect-shaped roots in lighter soil, but they really will grow in just about anything, and they're actually a bit of a Workhorse in the garden, so if you have clay soil, as the beets start to expand, they can actually help break up that soil.

07:32

08:15

Use scissors, just like carrots, to thin beets. Fertilization for both of these root crops is actually very different. For carrots, too much nitrogen will cause a lot of top growth in the greens but not so much root development. So for carrots, organic fertilizer with a higher middle number like Neptune's Harvest Rose, flowering formula, and bone meal would be good choices.

08:16

08:45

For the beets, they actually love nitrogen and phosphorus, so the rose and flowering formula from Neptune's Harvest Blood Meal or maybe a mixture of the two would be a good choice for them. if you allow the soil to dry out too much, the beets are going to develop a woody exterior the carrots will crack and split so water regularly

08:46

09:40

When beets were grown first, they were grown for their leaves, not roots so as you wait for them to grow, you can harvest the leaves

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How to Grow Carrots and Beets From Seed

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