Growing carrots in containers

You see, I have tried to grow carrots in my garden plot but to no avail. Yes, I use generous amounts of Sluggo. Yes, I have tried copper tape. Yes, I have tried beer in shallow containers. Between the slugs and the snails, I get very nice germination but decimation afterwards. The slugs and snails take no prisoners. They leave no carrot behind.

My bright idea this year is to start the carrots in containers on my balcony. This should be fine even though I don't get much sun this time of year. Then I will take the carrots, container and all, and let it loose into the gastropod-infested environs of my garden. But the container will be covered with fine netting. My plan for now. We'll see who wins. So far, it feels like it's been Gastropods 100, me 0. This is life in a community garden.

How I sow the seeds: I fill the container with good organic potting soil. When the soil is moist and drains well, I sprinkle carrot seeds over the top. I dust the seeds with fresh potting soil, a very light cover.

Revisiting the carrots

I'm shocked to see they are growing quite nicely considering I was concerned about the zillion ravenous slugs going on a carrot seedling rampage in my little garden plot. Here's what the carrots looked like earlier in April. I think they looked quite vulnerable and sparse.

For the record, I prepared a square foot area of soil, digging about a foot deep, then adding organic fertilizer according to instructions. The carrots seeds were scattered on the top of the soil. We topped this area with a thick layer of alfalfa mulch, followed by a generous watering. I hoped that the mulch would help retain the water since carrot seeds need to be kept moist until they germinate which can be awhile, up to 30 days. This time, they took about a week, a record time for us.