If you love carrots, growing carrot tops are a great way of adding nutrition and mild carrot taste to any meal without the long wait of growing a full-size carrot.
While carrot greens grow slower than most microgreens the favor makes them worth the wait. Carrot microgreens are just immature carrot plants, so you don’t need a special type of seed. When choosing your seed go with a company you trust. Your main concern is because carrot seeds are so small, make sure you have enough to cover the whole surface of your growing area.
Based on the variety you choose your greens may take 15-25 days for harvest. I must add if you’re looking for a fast-growing microgreen you may want to try radishes or mustard which also offer great flavor and are fun to try.
You only need a few basic things to start growing microgreens.
Materials
Seeds: choose some good-quality carrot seeds.
Containers: a shallow container with holes for drainage.
Growing medium: I use the compost I make at home
Light: grow lights work fine
Kitchen shears
Soaking
Carrot seeds are so tiny, they absorb water just fine from the soil, so soaking is not needed.
Planting
Fill your tray with the soil of your choice and water it well. Cover the entire surface of your soil with your carrot seeds, spreading them equally across the tray. Gently press the seed into the soil so they make good contact and stay in place. The seeds will absorb the water and begin the germination process.
As when growing carrots outdoors I place a board over the seeds until they sprout, which takes about 4-7 days. This blocks out the light and increases the germination rate.
It’s great if you can get the soil temperature to 75 F., so using a heat mat can be helpful. I use a heat lamp because it’s what I have and it works well for me. The only thing is with using a heat lamp (which I feel mimics the sun) is that you must keep an eye on the topsoil and don’t let it dry out because the seed must stay moist to germinate.
Growing plants does not need to be expensive. Take what you have and make it work.
Growing
About 4 days after the carrot seeds are planted, start looking for sprouts. Once most of the seeds have sprouted, remove the board/covering and heat mat or light.
Place the tray under grow lights for 12 hours a day. Keeping the light about 2 ft above the tray should be fine. The sprouts will begin to turn green and grow towards the light.
Keep the soil moist during the growing process. As they grow they will need more water. I place a larger tray under my seed tray so I can water from the bottom. Because the sprouts are growing so close together, watering from the top may cause bacterial growth due to less airflow.
After about 10 minutes, pour out any water the soil did not absorb. You want the soil moist, not soggy.
Harvesting
You can harvest carrot greens at any stage, but unlike other microgreens (which are harvested when the first premature leaves appear) you can wait until they grow their first true leaves, which are the feathery ones we know carrot tops to have. They will not lose their flavor and the texture will stay pleasing.
Use your sharp kitchen shears to cut the microgreens just above the soil level. You can harvest them all at once or stagger the cuttings over the next week or two.
Carrot microgreens don’t grow back after harvesting, so you can just compost the soil and wash and reuse the trays.
Happy growing!