Carrots

Carrots are crunchy vegetables that grow under the soil. Most carrots are bright orange, but they can also be purple, yellow, red, or white. They have green leafy tops that stick out above the ground. Carrots taste sweet and are good raw or cooked. Rabbits are famous for loving to eat them.

How Carrots Grow

Carrots start from tiny seeds planted in soft soil. They grow best in loose, sandy dirt where the roots can spread down. The green tops grow up while the orange part grows down. It takes about three months for a carrot to be ready to pick. You pull them out by grabbing the leafy top.

Tiny baby carrot plants just poking up from the soil.
Tiny baby carrot plants just poking up from the soil. (Dwight Sipler from Stow, MA, USA / Wikimedia Commons)

Good for Your Eyes

Carrots are famous for being good for your eyes. They have lots of a vitamin called beta-carotene, which your body turns into vitamin A. Vitamin A helps you see better, especially in the dark. Carrots also have fiber and other healthy nutrients. You can eat them in salads, soups, or as a crunchy snack.

Fun Facts

  • The first carrots were purple, not orange.
  • The longest carrot ever grown was more than 20 feet long.
  • Carrots are about 88 percent water.

Did You Know?

Orange carrots became popular in the 1600s. People in the Netherlands grew them to honor their royal family, whose color was orange.