Herrick Kimball Youtube short on his way to grow carrots. The 4 days is the time to induce germination. He has a mounded raised bed. He gives it a very deep watering and fertilizes it before he covers his raised bed with black plastic. He makes spaced cut out holes and plants his carrot seed. He uses something to cover those holes and watches for germination. See the video for what he does. He removes his covers once he gets the germination and thins to 3 plants per cutout.
I look at this and say what a lot of work for this result, BUT, his work is complete after planting with no further work until harvest. He does not water or weed or take any action for the rest of the season up to the day he removes the plastic and digs out his carrots. He relies on the initial very deep watering for the entire season.
Important to remember that he is in Upper NY State. It probably would probably work in WI or Michigan. Not, I think, quite as well in Kansas or Oklahoma or Texas.
(**Doing something like this in warmer places would probably require a late season carrot planting that avoids the summer heat. A July planting here in KS with 90F+ summer temperatures would probably cook the carrots under the black plastic. He also has soil that holds moisture for 70 or 80 days and enough space to do this. I do not have these things, but If you have the room and are in a dry area you could trench your mound location and fill that with a lot of absorbent non fertilizing plant material that holds water. )
His objective is to produce the largest carrots he can for winter storage without constant attention to his carrot plantings. Every gardener has to decide if they want to grow things that are locally inexpensive and obtainable. I like the carrots I have grown and they are better than store bought, but it is easier here to buy them. I think this is (mostly) a good truck garden and prepper solution. (I would still use boards for 4 days over the cutouts instead of the hats)
I would just note that Carogold is a very good tasting variety! Korean Gold is good, but much drier than most U.S. varieties.
(I do not have this variety, but Covington is supposed to be a fast growing variety that can even be grown in Canada!)
Kind of like the idea of sowing carrots in holes of weed block and I have a 36” wide roll of brown paper here that would last long enough for weed blocking for carrots. With paper, I could punch smaller holes in a 3” x 3” grid and sow 2-3 per hole and thin to one.
I have two carrot varieties and both are supposed to be good in heavy soil and one is a stubby carrot that “” can power through tough soil and blistering heat “”. Other is 8-9” long, still supposed to do good in heavy soil and is a “great keeper”. Start with a small batch of the stubby ones.
I can poke one of those 1/2” diameter fiberglass fence posts in the ground 6-12 inches in the area in and around the tunnel pretty easily but especially some spots in the tunnel that were double dug years ago. It’s nearly rock free too. Will have to poke around and find a carrot spot.
Use the versatile Black Plastic Mulch for tomato, pepper, eggplant, vine crops, and many other crops.
Specialty mulches have gained in popularity in recent years and are available in a variety of colors for specific purposes.
Red Mulch is designed to increase yields of early season tomatoes and strawberries.
Blue Mulch has been shown in studies to increase yields up to 20% in vine crops like cucumbers, melons, and squash.
White on Black Mulch works great on cool season crops like broccoli, cauliflower, and greens by keeping soil temperatures low while increasing the amount of light reflected back to the plant. The black underside on this mulch does not allow light through, providing effective weed control.
Metallic Mulch disorients insects, reducing populations of insects in the field, and thereby insect damage and the spread of diseases from plant to plant.”
Translucent mulches, such as Olive Mulch, increase soil temperature higher than black plastic mulch, and is best for crops like melons and other vine crops.
Brown Mulch combines the best of black and olive mulches by raising soil temperatures higher than black mulch, and providing better weed control than olive mulch.
Use Clear Mulch to get a jump start on sweet corn production, or our Photo-Degradable Clear Mulch to reduces costly clean up.
Which Mulch Should I Use?
• Black Plastic Mulch for tomato, pepper, eggplant, vine crops, and more.
• Blue for melons and squash.
• Brown for higher soil temperatures.
• Clear Mulch, SRM Olive for higher soil temperatures for crops such as vine plants.
• Metallic for insect control.
• Paper Mulch for crps that would normally benefit from other mulches, without the need for expensive labor to remove it at the end of the season, as it will degrade.
• Red for early, cool season tomatoes.
• White on Black for cooler temperature crops such as lettuce, cauliflower, and broccoli.
• Solar combined benefits of a black and clear mulch.”
INFORMATION SOURCE :
https://www.harrisseeds.com/collections/mulches-plastic-and-paper
Most plastic commercial mulches are 1.0 mil thick, except for the metallic / Solar which is embossed over black plastic which is 1.25 mil.
The silver mulch confuses insects, especially white fly, and leads to control over virus infections in tomatoes.
The white over black plastic is said to decrease soil temperatures up to 12 degrees, resulting in reflected light, faster growth, and larger yields.
Obviously, straw, compost, and leaf mulch are the least expensive mulches you can use for moisture retention and soil temperature control.