G-d the carrot bed was depressing.
Beautiful carrots all tasteless and dull.
Well that’s what happens when the bed is too depleted. Last year I had trouble with tiny little carrots and bushy tops- too much enrichment. This year it was the opposite.
How about we aim for perfect sweet carrots 2k20?
That means clearing the bed of weeds and *sob* baby carrots.
Rip tasteless carrots. May you at least make good compost.
Then it was time for your friend and mine, a big bag of compost. Compost is key here. Manure is too rich, basic granular fertilizers not rich enough. It’s not so much about fertilizing so much as amending… the distinction between the two could be it’s own post.
There is one true carrot in my mind, though people’s opinions may vary. Kuroda carrots are wonderfully sweet and straight and like to overwinter, which is perfect, because winter is coming.
My perfect little rows are perfect as always.
Yes. Grow and be sweet little seed, grow and be sweet!
Then it’s just a matter of covering everything up and hoping for the best.
It’s cold at night and cool during the day so there is a non-zero chance not everything or even most germinate. It also takes a while for carrots to germinate even under warmer conditions. So if in three weeks I have no sprouts I’ll start some carrots indoors to transplant.
Yes that is not ideal and you have to separate them and be careful not to bruise the growing root and all that but carrots are worth it.
Carrots are always worth it.
The Neanderthal Gardens 
Yuck! I hate carrots! I had to grow them because the neighbors wanted them. I even hated just pulling them! They smell like carrots. They are so orange and carroty and EVIL! . . . and they take up space that could be used for vegetables that I would actually want to eat! Well, I can’t argue with the neighbors.
Ha! I love carrots! I hated them as a kid though! My mom has a really limited diet for health reasons and carrots are some of the only veg she can eat. So I always plant some.
Most people like carrots. I do not mind growing them. They are easier than beets.
And beets are pretty easy!
Yes, but they don’t like to dry out or get cooked while still in the ground. We grew them in autumn, which was safest, and also late in winter and into spring. The last batch in spring could get tough or bitter if still growing as the weather got warm. The carrots grew at the same time, but were not sensitive to the warming weather. They finished before things to really warm.
Of course, that does not apply to San Francisco.