Carrot seeds, Touchon carrot

Touchon Carrot seeds

Carrot touchon is a variety of Daucus carota. It is old time French variety of carrot that is excellent in quality and belongs to family Apiaceae. This type of perennial carrot is believed to have originated from France; however, the species has extended towards the United States of America. The plant produces a sweet, sturdy with delicious orange root.

Carrot touchon is a quite adaptable healthy vegetable. It is rich in vitamins A, B1, B2, B6 and B12. It also carries minerals, iron, potassium, copper and zinc. Matured touchon roots produce a lot of fibres and relatively fewer calories. Harvested roots can be cooked, stewed or roasted. Particularly touchon it is one of the most suitable carrot species in the market.

When appropriately cooked the vegetable is delicious and is often mixed with pork, chicken, red pepper, eggs, lime, salmon and or turmeric among other suitable food.

Touchon carrots prefer low temperature for proper growth. Seeds are sowed in the garden, with tiled drained soil. Soil should be moist during planting. The seed takes up to 25 days in the summer and autumn to germinate. Well-drained fertile soil is required for vast and fast growth.

When sown outside, the crop should be covered in glass container during the months of February and March. Germination requires average temperatures of 13⁰c to 20⁰c, while sowing depth of 1/2 to 1cm is recommended. Sowing carrots in trays is highly discouraged due to the splitting effect of the roots during transplantation of seedlings. Soil is covered with fleece during propagation using plastic foil to keep the layers of soil moist and airing the seeds. Fleece should be removed immediately the seedlings appear. On outdoors that usually starts from April, during the end of night frost. Application of excess fertilisers should be avoided since it causes the growth of hairs in carrots.

Regular weeding and watering are necessary to ensure optimum yield. Carrots are recommended to be raised in smooth seedbeds. This is because roots of touchon frequently form fork when it encounters organic matter particles, which causes irregular shapes in roots.