The Garden at 485 Elm
People growing together:
a collaborative community garden in Montpelier, Vermont

How to Thin a Carrot

Carrots have tiny seeds. Without surgical precision in planting, carrot jungle happens. The more carrots the better, right? Except if they’re too crowded, they don’t have room to grow into long, thick carrots. They’ll be small, stunted carrots, some of them twisted around each other.

The thing to do is thin the carrots—or lettuces, kale, squashes, and whatever is planted too densely. For carrots, just grab three or so by the tops and pull out the small carrots growing closely around them.

This is the delicious result. Tiny carrots are delicious in salad or very briefly stir-fried or roasted. The tops are tasty in salads and, especially, in pesto.

The gardener who thins a lot of carrots gets a big reward!