regrowing carrots

[Hedonologist]

I have some carrot seeds to plant this season. I was wondering about seed recovery. I've never actually got seeds from old plants before, apart from potatoes although they are a tuber.

Would it be possible plant next years carrots from the harvest from this season, if so how would I go about it? Completely new to this here.

 

[headfullofbees]

From elsewhere:

Carrot seed is fairly easy, provided you don't have any wild carrot ('Queen Anne's Lace') growing nearby.
Carrots flower in their second year, so you need to dig up your carrots in Autumn.
Lay them all out so you can compare them, and select the best 40 roots:

Make sure you choose ones that are true-to-type: right colour, shape & size. You can even test the taste by slicing off the tip!
If your area has cold winters, store them in sand or sawdust in a cool but frost-free place, and plant out in spring.
(the ideal is about 5-10 C and 95% humidity)

In particularly mild areas you can replant them straight away where you want them to grow.
You can plant them quite close together, so 40 needn't take up much space.
(The numbers are really important if you want to get good seed.)
The next summer they will flower (to about 5 foot high!)
MAKE SURE THERE IS NO QUEEN ANNES LACE NEARBY, THEY WILL CROSS!
... and seed is ready in autumn. Just rub the seed off when it is mostly brown.
You will get huge amounts of seed: if you dry it properly (see our seed-saving pages) it will be good for 2 or 3 years.

 

[Mariam]

Thank you so much for this information! I was actually going to look this up, but I kept forgetting. I bought some cosmic purple seeds this year and I definately wanted to try saving the seeds.

So, let me get this straight. When you save the carrot, you then plant it back in the ground whole? Kind of like what you do to potatoes? Are there any parts slightly sticking up out or is everything completely under ground?

Thanks for sharing your knowledge, it truly is a blessing!