Long time readers will know that three years ago we started growing lettuce indoors. The first crop of the leafy stuff was grown in a cooler, but we have since discovered that you can grow an incredible crop in a medium sized flower pot. All that is needed is dirt and a good, sunny window.
Thus this winter in my burgeoning garden-deprivation-induced boredom, I decided to try growing carrots indoors. I took a large, five-dollar flower pot from Wally World, which I had purchased for a Norfolk Island pine (which STILL needs repotting) and set upon the carrot experiment. My preparations included nothing more than filling it with potting soil (since it was the middle of the winter and plain old dirt was unavailable), sprinkling carrot seed on top, watering and waiting.
Yesterday I pulled this baby, about a five inch rainbow carrot, from the crowded pot.
The verdict is in.
You CAN grow carrots indoors
Tasty ones too.
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11 comments:
I think that is so neat! We have no sunny windows in our current house... but this Fall we are hoping to put up a high tunnel!! :)
Nice carrot! Keep up the good work and are you going to try something new next year?
Very interesting. I would never have thought you could grow them indoors!
You also get the very attractive foliage that looks so pretty in a flower arrangement.
I had a carrot stump from my lunch that I placed in my classroom terrarium and it grew a huge stalk and even flowered!
I don't have enough light in this house or I'd try it. I might anyway.
Maybe YOU can grow them indoors. I kill everything. Maybe it's because I forget to water it?!
Very interesting experiment. Did you know that the best dirt for growing carrots is composted leaves? Rake leaves into a pile or into a round wire compost pile. nothing but leaves, and just keep putting them in there for about two to three seasons. clear the top to get to the bottom and your carrots will go wild.
Sara, I was thrilled that it worked. We are lucky to have three 4X8' windows facing east in our living room. A lot of cold air comes in but so does sunlight. I am having a lot of fun growing things in them''
Lisa, welcome home! I don't know what I will do next winter...at least lettuce and carrots, but it sure is fun to pick veggies in the living room
SC Momma, I was astonished at the success of the original lettuce experiment. You can grow so much in a simple flower pot. The carrots are a nifty bonus crop
Jan, you are right about that. The foliage is so green and lush, you would think it was a house plant
FC, neat! I have about a three foot potato sprawling all over the kitchen where I stuck one that sprouted on top of a flower pot....plants are just amazing!
LInda, that is one of the best things about living up here on the hill. I am a creature of the light myself, suffer from SAD so badly, and all these windows help me and all my plants just thrive. lol
The Wife, it is a funny thing. I wasn't fond of plants when I was younger...they kind of grew on me.
Tim, sounds like a great idea. I grow them in half fifteen gallon barrels in sand and compost. Oddly, I don't have much in the way of leaves as all the trees up here have tiny little ones. Back when we lived in town though I had a fenced garden and let the neighbors fill the whole fence with all their maple leaves. Man, did that ever make good dirt!!! It broke my heart to see the folks who moved in when we left smooth it all out into lawn. Fifteen years of work! Gone!
Apropos of nothing; it's fall, I bought a garlic bulb at a local supermarket, selected 3 cloves and planted them in a window box on an east-facing porch. All 3 had sprouted about a week later.
Dana, as I experiment I am amazed by what will grow indoors. I have cannas that grow six feet tall and bloom, several vegetables, especially lettuce, which thrives. It is kind of nice in winter.
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