How to Grow Lettuce and Carrots Together

Prepare wide rows in the vegetable garden. Make the rows about 12 inches wide and 12 to 18 inches apart. Mark the rows by pounding stakes at the outer edge of both long sides of the row. Attach strings to the stakes forming a fence around the wide row.

Improve the soil in the wide rows by adding a 1-inch layer each of peat moss and compost. Add 1/2 cup of 10-10-10 granulated fertilizer for every 10 feet of row, sprinkling it evenly in the row. Incorporate the amendments into the vegetable garden by turning over the soil with a shovel, then raking it smooth.

Sow carrot seeds down the center of the row. Make a shallow furrow and sprinkle the tiny seeds in it. Top off the furrow with about 1/8 inch of moist vermiculite.

Broadcast lettuce seeds on either side of the row of carrot seeds, keeping the lettuce seeds about 4 inches away from the carrots. Lightly cover the lettuce seeds by sprinkling finely textured compost on top of them.

Water the wide row with a light mist from a hose nozzle-type sprayer. Mist the bed daily until the lettuce seeds germinate in about seven to 14 days. Water as needed after germination keeping the row moist but not wet. Carrot seeds begin germinating in two to three weeks.

Thin carrot seedlings when they germinate in about two to three weeks, so that the remaining plants stand about 3 to 4 inches apart.

Harvest lettuce beginning when the plants are about 4 inches high by thinning the plants every few days, as they grow larger. Harvest the plants closest to the row of carrots first so they do not crowd out the carrot seedlings. Pull small plants out of the ground and pinch off the roots. Continue harvesting lettuce plants, as they grow larger, leaving more space between the remaining plants, as they grow larger. Harvest all lettuce plants before summer heat sets in for good, as it begins turning bitter bolts when hot weather arrives.

Harvest carrots when the green tops are full and well developed and the roots are at least 1 inch in diameter, in approximately 55 to 75 days, depending on the variety. Grasp the greens near the ground and pull straight up. Carrots can remain in the ground until just before it freezes solid. In milder winter areas, they can stay in the ground all winter if protected with a 6- to 8-inch mulch layer.