Mulched Carrot Seeds

Yet another fine example of quickly I would be fired if
I worked on a real farm.

I came across a blog that pretty well represents where I sometimes see myself in a few years; Tiny Farm Blog is full of great stories and information from someone who, like me, started with zero farming knowledge.  I think they are on their ninth year now and have grown quite a bit although it's great to see that even after nine years they continue to learn.

Anyway, I came across a couple posts about mulching newly sown carrot seeds with various materials; burlap, weed screen/landscape fabric, etc.  See, carrots take their sweet-ass time to germinate and they MUST stay moist during the 2-3 weeks it takes for them to wake up.  It can be a challenge to keep them moist without a single failure, especially if you are like me and have a day job.  The idea of mulching now seems so obvious a solution I'm annoyed I didn't think of it myself!  I ended up using weed cloth, triple folded and staked to the beds to cover my new seeds.  Because I sowed between existing rows it was a bit more work, requiring a "strip" of mulch for each row.

14awg wire for "stakes" - you could also cut up clothes
hangars if you have extra...

I crafted some cheap-O stakes from 14awg galvanized wire to hold things in place.  While I was at it I also covered up my new beet seeds.  It's about 60 degrees Today with Wednesday forecasted to be in the mid 80's and I imagine I'll need all the help I can get to stabilize soil temp and moisture.

Had to thin out some of my carrots and it's
 fun to see... well, to see that they ARE carrots!