Is This Crop Worth Growing on the Farm?

[@farmerkeith]

Thank you everyone for the great input! Keep Farming.

[@stevehatcher7700]

Have you tried tillage radish (daikon) as a late season cover crop. Should punch through that compaction layer, die and rot over winter, leaving holes and organic matter down deep. In theory. Plant your carrots in those beds the following season.

[@classicrocklover5615]

I grow carrots in raised, above ground beds, and or huge containers . I use potting soil or sandy, loose soil. Harvesting is easy, as I just dump a container out and sort through, like one would do for potatoes. Loose, fluffy soil is key.

[@brooksblanchard6893]

Meadow creature broadfork. The larger 1 for you. Hope this helps!

[@neelsscheepers8841]

It looks like my soil use to look like until i dug out all my beds (20 beds 30in by 65feet) with a back hoe 2 feet deep and replacing the soil with a good quality dark Loam soil that i got for free at a building site. i Also installed drainage pipes in every bed. It was expensive to do but worth it. My neighbor flood his beds the night before harvesting and that helps a lot with root vegetables.

[@stuckinthemudgarden7726]

Just my experience with carrots in rocky clay soil. This has been the only way I can get them out of the ground. Plant some beds in winter rye and vetch 3 rows rye 5 rows vetch . In the spring kill it with a tarp then put an inch or so of compost directly over the top of it just enough to be able to run the seeder . The first year I did this it was an improvement. The second year I was able to pull them by hand . I stopped tilling most of my garden. The compost I use is made on the farm Nothing more that wood chips garden waste some grass clippings if I can get my hands on some moldy organic hay I put that in the pile to . My chickens turn it for 6 months then it’s aged for another 6 months. I promise if you try this it will be a game changer. For context my market garden is an old hay field that was then an atv track. Then it was overgrazed pasture. It was so compacted that I broke a few ripper shanks trying to break it up .

[@ddouglas3687]

I've had to run my tiller 2 and three times over compacted soil shoveling each pass out of the way of the next in order to really loosen and break it up. Then lots of leaves as well as broken up small limbs and twigs. Only way to keep it loose!

[@janew5351]

Just came across Spear & Jackson from England, they have a never bend carbon fork.

[@KyleHeiny]

Buy a broad fork. I use it in my greenhouse and in the field.

[@farmerkeith]

I have a broad fork. It does not work for harvesting carrots.

[@KyleHeiny]

Im in IN with clay soil and we use a broad fork for about 400 bed ft of carrots. Another option is to raise your beds and build an undercutter for your 3pt. I use an undercutter on our smaller spring carrots. It's just not able to cut beep enough for the fall crop in my heavy soil.

[@cliffpalermo]

Looks like you could use a broad fork and maybe some more organic matter in your carrot rows

[@farmerkeith]

The problem with having specific carrots beds is dramatically altering my soil in areas.

[@cliffpalermo]

@@farmerkeith I think I heard you say you ran a chisel through, have you ever completely turned over the soil there with a plow? I read May's book and when establishing new beds he likes pull up the soil where the conventional plow then till. Just curious as I'm thinking about working a piece of land with similar issues from it being a horse riding area

[@thepragmaticfarmer6308]

Exactly what I was thinking. I wouldnt even bother or would set aside an area of the farm that's no till for root vegetables rotations. Broadfork, compost and lots of cover crop rotations.

[@leslievanderpool5115]

I would have given up on the carrots a long time ago if I had your soil. Is a raised bed an option for you?

[@joeyharris67]

I've got the solution, Kieth. Buy another 100ft cat tunnel and use it exclusively for carrots! Here in Louisiana its a must not because of soil issues but the never ending torrential heavy downpours we get,.

[@farmerkeith]

That is the best solution I've heard! And, I happen to have another cat tunnel. Keep Farming!

[@JamieR-k6d]

You need to use some soil adornments such Biochar, small pebbles.1/8" dia, tree leaves tilled in then run your deep ripper through the row to remove the slick pan left by the tiller run. there a way to over come that problem just my thoughts

[@willbass2869]

I don't think planting annual cover crops like daikon will fix the compaction issue. Not enough active growth time to bust hardpan.....you might change variety to Parisian round or oxheart carrot. Stubby but flavorful You might try planting warm season perennial grass like blue stem or switch grass. Sacrifice a bed for 2 or 2.5 years and let those prairie grass roots do what they do best.....driving roots deep. If 2 years is too long then plant milo in May and use the early spring for green peas. Milo (or "haygrazer" sudan) puts down a good root mass

[@farmerkeith]

I figured it. Plant Carrots in a cat tunnel. No rain compaction, no washout. Ended up with about 400lb off one 90ft bed. Planted July and harvested September to October

[@knowledgeandmultiskilled]

Try changing your style of growing. I have 1 idea that can help you minimize your effort, for harvesting. You should not have to break any of your tools when you are harvesting food, so what you need is to use the proper soil! Yes, you can make your experience, for harvesting carrots easier on yourself, but the choice is yours to make. If I were you then I would give up on how I grow my food, and switch methods of growing food. I think you have 2 options that you can choose from, so you can either completely give up on growing carrots, or you can switch methods, for growing food, so this means how you do your planting would completely change!