Back in my old SoCal garden, where I dealt with heavy clay soil, I used to joke with my non-gardening friends that my carrots were "organic" (with their twisty-turny roots and funny shapes and little "hairs") because they were far from the perfectly smooth and uniform carrots at the store.

And of course, they were grown organically but that's not the reason I sometimes pulled up carrots that looked like this:

Or this:

Or my favorite, which I dubbed "Leaping Dancer":

Some harvests were better than others, but there were usually a few carrots that were so stunted, misshapen, or downright ugly that it made me look into the causes more—and it comes down to more than just heavy soil.

​If your carrots are coming up deformed, here's why that's happening and what you can do.​

Seasonal tips

How to Fix 9 Common Carrot Growing Problems Read more

How to Grow Carrots From Seed for Big Harvests Read more

9 Strategies to Keep Weeds Out of Your Garden (Without Sprays) Read more

How (Not) to Fertilize Your Plants This Summer Read more

Parent-Tested Tips for Camping With a Baby (and Actually Enjoying It!) Read more

The Sneaky Way to Water Your Houseplants (and Why They Love the Shower) Read more

How hot is it where you are?

We've had sweltering weather in Bend with temps exceeding 90°F all week. 🥵 (Gorgeous for getting out to the lakes, but really hard on the vegetable garden.)

If your plants are looking all sad and droopy during the day, FIRST: feel the soil around the root zone. If it's nice and moist, more water is not what your plants need! They're simply coping with the heat but will perk up again once temperatures cool down.

Make sure you read my post here on how to help your garden survive a heat wave. (I'm sure there will be more coming this summer.)

Also, if you're growing tomatoes, shade cloth is a handy thing to keep around if daily highs consistently exceed 85°F to 90°F. It'll reduce the amount of blossom drop and keep your plants productive.

I use these in my own garden:

• ​30% shade cloth​
• ​40% shade cloth​

P.S. If your carrots are coming up all twisted and forked with hairy roots, here's why that's happening and what you can do about it.

P.P.S. I'm shipping organic Egyptian walking onion seeds this week—harvested from my own garden! These rare perennial onions are hardy to zones 3–10, easy to grow, not picky about soil, and can turn into a "forever" patch of green onions if you leave a few plants in the ground each year.

And check out my walking onion growing guide when you're ready to plant. The seeds (which are actually bulbils, as seen below) can be planted anytime from now through fall.