I plant my fall carrots around the middle of August, so I pulled up the poblano plants which were the last things in the troughs.
Before I did anything else, I went about setting up the plastic poultry fencing because deer LOVE carrot tops. In years past, I have used all the garden stakes that my mom gave me to block the deer’s access to the troughs, but I have used all of those up in the sweet potato patch. I had to take the posts out of the troughs that we had been using for plant supports, along with the pieces of cattle panels. Then I put posts in the two troughs at each end so that I could wrap the chicken fencing around the sides of the troughs because deer will eat the sides, but they won’t go between the backs of the troughs and the shed wall. Then I put 1 post in the very front of the other three troughs. Once all the posts were installed, I used zip ties to attach the chicken fencing to the posts at the top and the bottom. I have to say, this is a much neater and more attractive solution to the deer problem. I hope it works as well.
After the fencing was up, I added some organic fertilizer to all the troughs and then I sprinkled 3 large packets of Danvers carrot seeds over the five troughs. I also raised the little sprinkler heads up on some little pieces of garden stakes fitted with little holders that my husband 3D printed for me.
The hardest thing with carrots is that you have to water them EVERYDAY until they come up. Fortunately, Mother Nature has been taking care of that for me, but I have also done some supplementary watering just to be sure. These troughs have drains, so you can’t overwater.
Last year, I planted four troughs of carrots and I got 40 lbs of carrots, so I expect to get at least 50 lbs with five troughs. Danvers are super productive (much more than the red and purple carrots I planted lasted year) and are really nice carrots–good size and good shape–and they store well if you wash them and remove the greens.
I guess we’ll see in November when I pull them up.
