I blamed it on the experts whose advice was loaded with warnings. To my dismay, the next rain shower exposed a fresh crop of rocks. When it came to sowing the itsy-bitsy seeds, I carefully tore open the seed packet and sprinkled them onto the soil. Sowing, I later learned, should only be attempted on wind-free days, as carrots seedling were found rubbing elbows with pansies, raspberries and lettuce. After covering the seeds with a thin quilt of soil, I waited.
Carrots can take up to three weeks to germinate.
Alas, with over a decade of growing seasons behind me, I no longer break out in a cold sweat as the carrot season approaches. And sleepless nights became a thing of the past, once I realized that you can't hurry a carrot. No other vegetable or fruit contains as much carotene as carrots, which the body converts to vitamin A. A versatile vegetable, carrots are an excellent source of vitamins B and C as well as calcium pectate, an extraordinary pectin fiber that has been found to have cholesterol-lowering properties. Carrots as we know them today, didn't exist 150 years ago. Native to Afghanistan, early varieties were red, purple, or black.