Anyone grown the ball shaped carrots ?

I planted some of the Thumbelina ball shaped carrots, but don't know what to expect. I've never even seen one except in pictures of seed catalogs.

Will they be like radishes, only orange ? Will they grow faster than regular carrots ? Is the flavor acceptable ? I've never had very good luck growing carrots. I'm hoping this will be better.

If you've grown them, I'd like to know how they did for you, and what your opinion is of them.

I grew them one year and they do grow like radishes, but aren't any faster to maturity than 'regular' carrots. I wasn't crazy about the flavor. I grow Mokum or Tendersweet and Yellowstone.

To avoid double roots on carrots, don't use any heavy nitrogen fertilizers or compost with them. If your dirt is too heavy for them, try planting them in 5 gallon buckets filled with half dirt and half sand. Or, I use an old, cracked bathtub.

I like Thumbelina carrots--they'll grow in anything. I grew them in window boxes on my balcony when I lived in an apartment. They'll also grow nicely in bad, rocky soil.

The flavour is probably not as sweet as some others, and they seem harder than the average carrot. But they are easy to grow, so if you haven't had much luck with others, you should with these.

Here's a picture of my "harvest" from my balcony, four years ago:


Rhonda

I have not grown the Thumbelina, but have used the short "Oxheart" carrots in heavy soils. Definitely less sweet and more woody than the long types, but they will grow in heavy soils, where the Imperator and Nantes types won't.

Rhonda, that's an awesome crop from your balcony. I'd be tickled to get that from my whole garden.

I've got mine planted in a raised bed. The soil should be light and loose enough, but it is pretty heavily composted.

It seems like they always take a lot longer to mature than even the packets say. I know they take a long time to germinate too.

Are the Mokum, Tendersweet and Yellowstone, short type carrots ?

Oxheart is the real dark orangish-red one isn't it ? Seems like I've heard someone else say they grew that one. Or maybe I'm thinking of something else.

If a person is into instant gratification........carrots won't be on their list. LOL............I guess if I want carrots, I'm going to have to learn to be more patient. Thanks all for your replies. Any other tips will be appreciated as I really want to learn how to grow carrots this year. Tried it a couple other times but didn't know what I was doing. First time, I didn't thin them and they wouldn't get big, next time, I think I just didn't give them enough time to mature. Mine were all pale looking too. I don't even know what variety they were..........didn't even know that was important back them.

Sure have learned a lot since coming to DG. ::-) Thanks