Carrots growing at The Tropical Paradise

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The carrots look good here at The Tropical Paradise. I've grown them for the past two seasons more for decorative effect than for food, as I like the ferny leaves. They should be ready to harvest pretty soon, but I will wait as long as possible as I would like them to remain as a ground cover for as long as they look good.

If you look carefully between the carrots you will see little baby lettuce seedlings. I lost my fight with the slugs over in the other planting area (killed a lot with beer, but not in time to save the seedlings). There is a distance of six inches between the rows of carrots (or drills, if you prefer), so there is room for the lettuce to grow and they will be protected by the carrots. You actually see a lot of this relationship with native plants here in the desert. A seed will sprout and a small plant will be protected by the surrounding ones.

Of all of the plants that I tried to grow from seed this season, the only ones that are really successful are carrots, lettuce, and alyssum. The annual flowers, like petunias and snapdragons just don't wanna grow. I wonder how the pros do it? I will appreciate annuals more from now on!

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