Rainbow Blend Carrot Seeds

Days to Maturity: 50 to 60 from direct sow

A delightful blend of five different colored carrots all suitable for growth as gourmet baby veggies or full-sized mature roots, our Rainbow Carrot Blend is a treat for every garden. Plant a nice big patch of these beauties and have fun at harvest time discovering the colors you have grown.

For this mix we selected five classic names in carrots. All of these varieties except one (Bambino) are traditionally full-sized carrots, but are suited for early harvest as baby vegetables. Their flavor and texture matures early, so you get the full "carrot" bite in delicious miniature form.

Here are the varieties you will grow in this blend:
Atomic Red: ideal for cooking, this root emerges a dull shade of pink from the earth. But with cooking it turns brilliant scarlet, and its flavor sharpens as well. If growing to full size, expect it to reach 8 to 11 inches long in 75 days.

Cosmic Purple: a carrot in a Halloween costume. The skin of these Nantes-type roots is deep violet, but the interior is orange. A gourmet variety, it offers a sweet bite with an aftertaste of spiciness that is most pleasing. If growing to full size, harvest the tapered 7-inch roots in about 70 days.

Solar Yellow: until recently this ancient carrot was found primarily in Middle Eastern specialty markets. It keeps its bright yellow color with cooking, and has a lovely moist, sweet, crunchy bite that it is a bit more sugary than traditional orange varieties. If you allow it to reach full size, it will stretch 6 to 7 inches long in 65 to 70 days, with broad shoulders topping a thick root that abruptly tapers to a fine point.

Lunar White: a true gourmet variety, grown in the Middle Ages but hard to find these days. The roots have a very small core, a mild bite, and a lovely texture that is pleasing either raw or cooked. When grown to full size, they reach 8 inches long in about 75 days.

Bambino: a true baby carrot, arrow-shaped and absolutely delicious. The skin is dark orange and very smooth, the flesh sweet and crisp. Very small core. Harvest it at 4 inches or let it reach 6; it matures in about 60 days, but can be harvested even sooner.

As you know, home-grown carrots are higher in vitamins A and B than their store-bought counterparts, not to mention calcium and phosphorus. Their green tops are nutritious as well—try chopping them and sprinkling them in the tops of soups and stews, or work them into cooked dishes just before serving to retain their delicate flavor and texture (while maximizing their nutritional impact).

Carrots are a cool-weather crop, best sown direct as soon as the soil is workable in spring, and sown successively every few weeks until midsummer. Heavy soils are one of the few serious problems for carrots, so prepare the soil thoroughly before planting or, if you are in a clay soil area, consider growing in raised beds or containers. Carrots also need moisture to keep their roots from splitting. With these needs met, they are virtually trouble free.

If you are growing this blend for baby carrots, sow the seeds about 2 inches apart, pushing them just ¼- to ½-inch into the soil. If you are going to let them reach full-size, either sow the seeds an inch apart and then thin them when the seedlings emerge, or space them 4 to 6 inches apart. Onions make excellent companions in the vegetable garden. You'll love this colorful mix of quick-to-finish, tender-sweet carrots.