Rainbow Mix (Daucus carota) is a blend of carrot seed that comes up purple, yellow, orange and white in the same row, and matures at around the same time so one lifting clears the lot. The roots are sweet and crisp, and it makes a good first sowing for a new vegetable bed or for growing with children. This listing is a seed packet, not seedlings.
What it does
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Four colours from one packet. Purple, yellow, orange and white roots, and most of that colour holds through cooking.
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Matures evenly. The varieties in the mix are selected to be ready together, so the row can be harvested in one pass.
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Sweet and crisp. Good raw, roasted or juiced, with the texture of a freshly pulled carrot.
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Reliable across seasons. It performs consistently rather than needing a narrow window, and needs no mulching or fertiliser to make good roots.
How to use it
Carrots are sown where they grow and are not transplanted, so prepare the bed before you open the packet. They want loose, stone free soil worked deeply, because stones and lumps are what produce forked roots. Sow direct and thinly, cover lightly, and keep the surface damp until the seedlings appear: carrot seed will not come up out of dry ground.
Thin the seedlings to 5 to 8cm apart once they are large enough to handle. That spacing is what lets the roots size up. Thinning in stages lets you pull the crowded ones as baby carrots and leave the rest to finish. Sow again every few weeks for a continuous supply. It can be sown year round, with autumn and spring the best seasons.
What it suits
Use. Vegetable beds and raised beds with deep, loose soil, and deep containers where you can build the growing medium exactly as the crop wants it. Raised beds give the straightest roots, because the soil is never walked on.
Not for heavy or shallow ground. Clay, compacted beds and shallow pots produce short forked carrots no matter how well you look after them. Improve the soil first, or use a deep container.
Seed is delivered Australia wide, with delivery from $29.95.
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