Planting carrots
What is the best way to plant carrots? I have not had much luck lately.
Benay Cole
Granite Falls, Minnesota
Carrots can be a little finicky, but they are definitely do-able. Don’t plant them too early, no matter what the package may say. It’s more important to work the soil up well a few times to knock down the weed population. Make your rows about ½-inch deep with a corner of your hoe. Then VERY lightly trickle a few seeds at a time between your thumb and first finger. They are tiny so go slow and take your time; it saves a whole lot of thinning later on. When finished, go back and cover the seeds with about ¼ inch of soil, then go back again and lightly tamp the soil firmly with the flat of your hoe. Mark your rows. Then gently water the area to moisten it.
If the daytime temperatures are in the high 60’s or better, your seeds should start coming up in about 10 days. Cooler temperatures make the seeds take longer to come up. This is why I quit planting “as soon as the soil can be worked” like I used to. When you do that, the weeds will germinate before the carrots and make weeding miserable. Be sure to keep the carrot rows moistened but not soggy until the carrots are well up. Often they’ll dry out when just starting to germinate and die. Once they have true leaves, go down the row and thin them to stand about an inch apart. This is important or you end up with tons of tiny unusable carrots. When they are five or six inches tall, thin them again. You can also mulch between the rows at this time, weeding for a last time between the plants. Better luck this spring! — Jackie
Possible cross pollination in squash
Could you help me identify a squash that I grew last summer? I think it might be a cross with a Hopi Pale Grey (I have been trying for years to grow, unsuccessfully). I just cut it today.
You sent me some Hopi Pale Grey seeds years ago. I think I remember you saying that those seeds might have crossed. Anyway, every year I try, but if the vine grows at all, I will get one medium-size squash. I have also tried some Baker Creek seeds.
Last year I had a lot of old seeds and put them all in the ground next to the fence. I got some gourds and I thought these might have been a gourd, so put them up on a shelf to dry. I cut it today. Here is an almost in focus picture. The squash was 12 inches long and 6 inches wide.
Daniel Jones
Chickamauga, Georgia
Your squash looks like a Hopi Pale Grey although it is longer than usual. But they do come in various shapes from round to football-shaped. It’s strange you’re having trouble getting a bounty of squash from Hopi Pale Greys; usually you get many large squash from each plant. This is not just my experience here, but in several of our old homesteads from NM to MT as well as folks who have ordered seeds from us as well. Be sure to eat that squash as they are awesome. — Jackie
