It is summer, time to enjoy the sunshine in the outdoors, while insects also enjoy being active in our environment. The soil is warm and the temperature perfect for germinating tiny seeds.
Warm loose soil and water provide tiny carrot seeds with all they need to germinate. Sow seeds by sprinkling them from high above the soil, just like the wind would blow seeds from a tall flower! Small seeds, like those from a carrot plant only need a light covering of soil, about the size of the seed itself. Water well and keep them from drying out as they grow.
As the green leaves grow above the ground, the root of the plant, being the carrot grows below the ground. Harvesting early, you will see the smallest carrots you have ever seen. Harvesting later after some months have passed, you will see thicker longer carrots, but no matter the size, they are all delicious. Even if disappointed when harvested, do accept and enjoy the carrots in all their shapes and sizes without trying to replant them. Once growing, they do not like their roots disturbed.
Make sure to leave a carrot in the ground and you will witness something that many people have not seen. The carrot underground will become hard in the centre and grow a tall stem with a beautiful umbel shaped flower and white petals. This can be admired in your garden.
This flower is attractive to ladybirds, which lay their eggs under the flower to protect them like an umbrella. Also attracted to the carrot flower are aphids, tiny bugs which suck the juices out of the plant. Aphids provide a food source for the ladybird larvae, which resemble tiny black crocodiles. They feed on the aphids and perform biological pest control in your garden, by controlling the sap sucking bad bug from damaging the carrot plant. Ladybirds are like superheroes in our garden. As the ladybird grows through its life cycle feeding on aphids, the pupae stage of their life cycle starts to resemble a beetle, but it is not until it grows into an adult, will you see the red and black ladybird that is known and loved!
With this biological pest control performed by ladybirds protecting the plants from the aphid damage, you will be able to see tiny seeds form from the flowers of the carrot plant. Let them dry, collect them and you can plant carrot seeds again in your garden the next summer.
It is the end and the beginning……..
Here is what you need to get growing in summer:
- Book – Gaye the Garden Girl, the carrots and the ladybirds
- Packet of carrot seeds
- Carrot seedlings
- Seedlings of other leafy green vegetables including – beetroot, bok choy, silverbeet, lettuce
- Cow manure
- Compost