Welcome! this post is part of the Prepared Bloggers’ 30 Ways of Homesteading roundup! At the bottom of this post you’ll find lots of great links to other ways to become self sufficient through homesteading, so be sure to check them out!
Saving carrot seeds is a two year process. Like many other root crops including onions and beets, carrots are biennials. This means the first year they are planted, they do not seed. They will produce seed in their second year. In all but the coldest climates, carrots can be overwintered in the ground. If you live where it regularly freezes through the winter, cover the carrots with a thick layer of mulch or straw bales to protect them from freezing. Alternately, the carrots can be harvested in the fall and stored in a root cellar or other cool, humid location to be replanted the following spring. Some suggest storing carrots in bins layered with moist sand or sawdust through the winter. I kept mine in the ground.
The second spring, the carrots grow green tops again, but this time they have flowers. One carrot will produce 5-10 flower heads, and each flower produces hundreds of tiny carrot seeds. Here are some pictures of how the flowers develop:
Leave the seed heads on the plant until the seeds are dry. It took until mid-August for the first mature seeds to be ready. The seeds are burred, so they stick to clothes, pets, and anything else that passes by. I’m sure I’ll have carrots growing everywhere next spring, including the path between the garden and the house!
Clip the seed heads from the plants and let them finish drying in a paper sack to contain the seeds.
The burrs on the seeds don’t affect their growing ability, but you can rub them off if you want prettier seeds.
Store them in a cool place to plant next spring! As a side note, if this is a “survival garden” and you start with a limited number of seeds, plant half the first year and save half to plant the second year so you can have carrots growing while the first year’s carrots are making seeds.
If you have carrots in your garden, try overwintering some and grow your own seed next year. Happy seed saving!
Want more about saving seeds? Check out my Seed Category for how to save seeds from lots of other garden plants!
The Prepared Bloggers Network is at it again! We’re glad you’ve found us, because the month of April is all about homesteading.
Homesteading is a lifestyle of self-sufficiency. It is characterized by growing your own food, home preservation of foodstuffs, and it may even involve the small scale production of textiles, clothing, and craftwork for household use or sale. Most importantly homesteading is not defined by where someone lives, such as the city or the country, but by the lifestyle choices they make.
The Prepared Bloggers are passionate about what they do and they each have their own way of achieving self-sufficiency. Grab your favorite drink and enjoy reading about the 30 Ways of Homesteading!
Crops on the Homestead
Straw Bale Gardening from PreparednessMama
Crop Rotation for the Backyard Homesteader from Imperfectly Happy
Benefits of Growing Fruit from SchneiderPeeps
Succession Planting: More Food in the Same Space from 104 Homestead
Crops to Grow for Food Storage from Grow A Good Life
Winter Gardening Series from Our Stoney Acres
How To Build a Raised Garden Bed For Under $12 from Frugal Mama and The Sprout
How to Save Carrot Seeds from Food Storage and Survival
Animals on the Homestead
Getting Your Bees Started from Game and Garden
Homesteading How-To: Bees from Tennessee Homestead
How to Get Ready for Chicks from The Homesteading Hippy
Selecting a Goat Breed for Your Homestead from Chickens Are a Gateway Animal
Adding New Poultry and Livestock from Timber Creek Farm
Beekeeping 101: 5 Things To Do Before Your Bees Arrive from Home Ready Home
How to Prepare for Baby Goats from Homestead Lady
How to Prevent and Naturally Treat Mastitis in the Family Milk Cow from North Country Farmer
Tips to Raising Livestock from Melissa K. Norris
Raising Baby Chicks – Top 5 Chicken Supplies from Easy Homestead
Making the Homestead Work for You – Infrastructure
Ways to Homestead in a Deed Restricted Community from Blue Jean Mama
Building a Homestead from the Ground Up from Beyond Off Grid
DIY Rainwater Catchment System from Survival Prepper Joe
Finding Our Homestead Land from Simply Living Simply
I Wish I Was A Real Homesteader by Little Blog on the Homestead
Endless Fencing Projects from Pasture Deficit Disorder
Essential Homesteading Tools: From Kitchen To Field from Trayer Wilderness
Homesteading Legal Issues from The 7 P’s Blog
Why We Love Small Space Homesteading In Suburbia from Lil’ Suburban Homestead
Preserving and Using the Bounty from the Homestead
How to Dehydrate Corn & Frozen Vegetables from Mom With a Prep
How to Render Pig Fat from Mama Kautz
How to Make Your Own Stew Starter from Homestead Dreamer
Why You Should Grow and Preserve Rhubarb! from Living Life in Rural Iowa
It’s a Matter of Having A Root Cellar…When You Don’t Have One from A Matter of Preparedness
Keep preparing! Angela
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Thanks for this info on carrot seeds. I did not know this.
This is so neat! Thank you for sharing! I’ve always wondered how seeds were collected from carrots. Very interesting and thanks for the visual pics!
Thanks for the interesting info about carrot seeds, its great to learn something new
Check us out sometime http://outlivetheoutbreak.com/
This was very interesting and good information to save and know.
I read that to preserve genetic diversity and make sure your carrots don’t get weaker each generation, you should save seed from lots of plants – some recommend at least 40 for carrots. I read this at http://www.realseeds.co.uk/seedsavinginfo.html Of course, all saved seeds are worth a gamble and will likely give you one decent generation, but for long-term gardening, maintaining genetic diversity is really important for strong, resilient crops.