Miffy was taught to grow carrots by Father Bun and now she wants to teach you! Miffy loves to get her hands muddy outside in the garden. After all, what could be better than juicy orange carrots with beautiful luscious green stems?
How Long Do Carrots Take To Grow?
Miffy has learnt from Father Bun that carrots are just like people and have things they like and dislike. With the right care, carrots typically take 6-7 weeks to grow, which is around 50 days. When they are ready, you can have them for your dinner!
Just as Miffy doesn't like losing her teddy, carrots don't like being too hot or too dry. They like the ground which is well-drained but damp, and they like cool air with lots of sunshine. Carrots are good for you and contain all sorts of vitamins! Miffy knows this so she makes sure to always eat her carrots at dinnertime. After all, carrots that you've grown yourself are even yummier than store-bought ones!
The more Miffy thinks about it, the more she notices all the things she has in common with carrots. Miffy loves springtime, and so do carrots. Just like Miffy, carrots are a friendly bunch, and they thrive when they grow up alongside tomatoes, chives, lettuce, and even radishes!
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How To Grow Carrots From Seeds
Miffy loves gardening – she plants all sorts of things but carrots are her favourite. Daddy let her have her own garden to plant all sorts of scrumptious things so she puts her dungarees on and checks that everything is healthy each day!
STEP 1 - First, you need a place to grow your carrots. If you're growing short-rooted carrots then they can grow almost anywhere, so you can plant them in a window box or just a large container! Plant your seeds anytime between the first and second week of March, just before the last frost has passed. Make sure you choose a sunny spot so that they have enough shine to grow!
STEP 2 - Once Miffy has put on some overalls and gone outside with her little spade, it's time to get gardening! Miffy starts with the earth. First, it needs to be turned over this way and that with a spade, which is hard work for someone who is young like Miffy, so Father Bun helps. The ground needs to be nice and smooth, without any stones or weeds in the soil – they aren't friends with carrots. Also, avoid fresh compost and manure as they don't help carrots grow; instead, they make the carrots get little side roots which we just don't want! Plain soil will do just fine!
STEP 3 - Carrot seeds are tiny so you have to be careful when sprinkling them. Plant each seed 3-4 inches apart in rows... you can use a ruler to help you with this. Rows should be at least a whole adult foot apart.
STEP 4 - Cover them up with soil so they keep warm but don't forget that it will be summer soon so there's no need to plant them too deeply - about half an inch of soil will do perfectly. Don't forget to water the little seeds once every couple of days to make them grow up nice and strong! Miffy has to be careful when she waters the plants as she doesn't want them to be thirsty, but too much water can spoil them, so she just tries to make the soil damp.
STEP 5 - Once all this is done, Miffy checks on her little plants every few days to make sure that they've got enough water, and not looking peaky. Your carrots will be ready in 50-60 days, so remember to make a note of when you planted them in your diary. After about 2 weeks, you should see the green leaves start to shoot through the soil… you can watch the leaves getting taller and thicker until it is time to pull up your carrots and eat them!
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