how to grow carrots, with dr. john navazio

WHEN THE MOST COMMON CHALLENGE readers confessed in a recent story on vegetable gardening was “I can’t grow carrots,” I knew who to call: John Navazio, Ph.D. to the rescue. John, who at time time served in a joint role as Senior Scientist for the Organic Seed Alliance and the Washington State University Extension specialist for organic seed for his home state, has grown—and bred—more than a few carrots in his time.

John, whose dramatic and delicious purple ‘Dragon’ carrot is bright orange inside, was reassuring as ever. First, don’t feel bad, he said. “Carrots are one of the harder vegetables to grow,” confirms John (with flowering carrots in an OSA photo, above), and for a few reasons:

They’re such small plants when they first sprout (the seed isn’t too big, either; I like to use pelleted, shown below, and there are now pelleted ones that meet organic certification requirements).

To get really good quality you need “unchecked growth”—no obstacles either literal (like rocky or otherwise tough soil) or meteorological (extremes of heat, cold or especially dryness). “Succulence and flavor will suffer if the growth is checked,” John explains–and so can their shape.

Would that we all were surrounded by a true loam (meaning an ideal soil with equal parts sand, silt and clay)—but since we’re generally not, the answer, John says: compost.

“Adding lots of organic matter—not bagged products, but high-quality local compost in bulk—will help you grow good carrots, and it will also help solve problems many gardeners have growing broccoli, cabbage and Brussels sprouts to good size,” says John, who is now manager of plant breeding at Johnny’s Selected Seeds in Maine.

john’s carrot how-to:Plant your root crops, including carrots, in the

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