If you’re new to gardening with carrots you’ll be amazed at the number of varieties out there. Carrots come in a number of different shapes, sizes, and colors. No matter what season of the year, your experience level, or the size of your garden, you’ll find a carrot variety that’s appropriate to grow in your home garden.

Carrots are usually divided into groups based on how deep they grow. Thin, deep growing carrots (up to 10 inches) are know as Imperator carrots. Danvers grow up to 7 inches long and are also thin. The tops are thicker and the flavor of the Danvers tends to be strong. Nantes are sweet, round carrots that grow to around 6 inches long. Chantenay carrots grow around 5 to 6 inches. They are a wider variety of carrot. Amsterdam carrots are small and thin, growing no more than 3 inches long on average. Paris Market carrots are very short carrots, and grow to about 1 ½ inches in diameter.

Here, we’ve listed some of our favorite carrots for the home garden. Make sure to talk to your local extension agent for recommendations on which carrots are best adapted to your area. Also, ask your favorite nursery for pest and disease resistant varieties which will help reduce the need for pesticides and fungicides.

Our Favorite Carrot Varieties for the Home Garden

Carrots for heavy soils:
Look for varieties that grow shorter and don’t need to penetrate deeply into the soil.

• Amsterdam Forcing 2, Amice
• Autumn King 2
• Chantenay Red Cored 2
• Pioneer
• Nantes Half-long
• Little Finger
• Danvers Half-long
• Spartan Bonus
• Five-Star Baby
• Parmex
• Mini Round
• Thumbelina

Carrots for container gardens:
While you can use containers of various depths to grow carrots, smaller varieties are usually best. Try out some of the following carrots in your container garden.

• Amsterdam Forcing 2, Amice
• Amsterdam Forcing 3 , Sprint
• Chantenay Red Cored 2
• Danvers Half-long
• Spartan Bonus
• Nantes Half-long
• Little Finger
• Mini Round
• Pioneer

Carrots for the Fall and Winter:

• Artemis
• Autumn King 2
• Barwon
• Carotene 200

Scarlet NantesScarlet NantesScarlet Nantes:

• Scarlet Nantes
• Royal Chantenay
• Merida, Overwintering
• Nantaise
• Nelson

Disease and Pest Resistant Carrots:

• Flyaway. Resistant to the carrot fly.
• Barwon. Resistant to alternaria and leaf blights.
• Bolero. Resistant to alternaria blight, powdery mildew, and cavity spot.
• Magno. Resists cracking and cavity spot.
• Topweight. Resists most carrot pests and diseases.

Carrots with Exceptionally Sweet Flavor:

• Adonis
• Artist
• Soprano
• Royal Chantenay
• Kingston

Unusual Carrots:

• Parmex. Small, almost completely round.
• Belgian White. White skin and flesh.
• Early Horn. An old variety with a reddish skin.
• French Round. Almost complete round.
• King West. Red roots.
• Pakistani. Can be purple to red in color. Very rare.
• Sinclair's. A yellow variety.
• Cosmic Purple. Deep red to purple skin with red/orange flesh.
• Thumberline. Round carrot.
• Dragon. Purple skin with orange flesh. Highly nutritious.
• Rainbow. Grows as a variety of pastel colors.

The Carrot Museum has an interesting site with a list of different carrot varieties.