The Retro Garden Trick That Claims You'll Have A More Bountiful Carrot Harvest

Carrots have a bad reputation for being tricky to germinate – their seeds are tiny and lightweight, causing them to easily blow off course, or get washed away by water, and their thick outer seed coat is harder for water to penetrate, which makes them slow to sprout. For a bountiful yield, you want as many of your seeds to germinate as possible, and for this to happen you need to sow them properly. This one retro garden trick could just revolutionize your sowing technique: use your feet.

"Over 50 years ago, an old-timer gave my mother this hint for better carrot yields. After putting the seeds in a row, do not cover with dirt. Instead, walk down the row. That presses the seeds into the soil just enough," Carolyn McGuire told Birds & Blooms.

By walking down the row, you firm the soil enough to anchor the carrot seeds without burying them too deeply. Ideally, you want to sow your carrot seeds about ⅜" to ½" inch deep into cool soil. And no stomping! You want the soil to be firm enough to retain moisture, but still loose enough that the delicate seedling sprout can push through. While there are a variety of easy tips that make growing carrots a breeze, this unique walking method is a helpful way to avoid over-burying their seeds. Since they are so small, carrot seeds are very sensitive to planting depth – when sowing them, it's safer to veer too shallow than to plant them too deep. Too shallow and the seeds are not secure, too deep and the germinated sprout won't push through the soil surface.

Because carrots can take so long to germinate – anywhere from one to three weeks, depending on temperature and moisture conditions – one of the trickiest things about growing them is making sure the seeds remain moist enough to sprout. So after you've sowed your carrot seeds by walking on them, you'll want to water them consistently, and make sure the surface of your soil stays moist, otherwise it could become compacted and develop a crust. Crusting is when soil surface dries into a hard shell, which makes it harder for water to penetrate the ground and for the carrot sprouts to break through the surface of the soil. Even a short period of dryness can stall or stop sprouting altogether. Some gardeners mix a few radish seeds in with the carrot row to prevent crusting since radishes sprout much faster than carrots and naturally break up the soil surface as they grow.

One way to help keep the surface of your soil from crusting is simply by covering it. You can do this with some old coffee bean or burlap sacks. The burlap material traps moisture, and, because it is permeable, you can water your plants right through it, making it the most simple carrot growing hack you need to ensure a healthy harvest. Tiffany Selvey, House Digest's Garden Editor and in-house Master Gardener, swears that a simple plank of wood is the secret to sowing and growing better carrots. You can remove your cover of choice once your carrot sprouts have broken the surface of the soil. No matter which method you choose, the goal is the same: keep the top layer evenly moist until germination.