How to Grow Caraways
On this page
Caraway (Carum carvi) — biennial.
Core growing advice on this page is checked against named horticultural sources — see References.
Caraway (Carum carvi)
3 sources cited · Verified
Quick Facts
Soil & Growing Conditions
Growth Stages
Harvest & Storage
Caraway, Grown for its Aromatic Seed
Plan your Caraways planting
Timing for Caraways follows soil temperature and frost, not the calendar date. The Global vegetable planting calendar explains the method. To work out where it fits in your beds, sketch your plot in the free Garden Layout Planner.
What the research guides add
Caraway is a biennial, so the seed comes in the second year, and NC State adds some useful plant-partner advice.
- An edible biennial in the carrot family that grows 1 to 2 feet tall and 1 foot wide and prefers full sun to light shade in moist, well-drained soil; it tolerates a pH range of 4.8 to 7.6. (NC State Extension)
- Plants in full sun are richer in essential oils and so more aromatic. (NC State Extension)
- Established plants have deep roots and do not tolerate root disturbance, but often self-sow freely. (NC State Extension)
- It does not do well growing near fennel or wormwood but is a good companion for most plants, especially shallow-rooted ones. Watch for carrot root fly, aphids and parsley worms. (NC State Extension)
Sources for this section
Section researched and checked on 25 October 2026 by the SoilCommander Editorial Team. How we check facts: editorial policy.
Growing Caraway in another region
Sowing dates, frost timing and local advice differ by country. Use the guide for where you garden.
Sources
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PFAF entry for Carum carvi. Fetched and parsed directly for the USDA hardiness rating.
These source is specific to this region. The full list of 3 sources behind this guide (NC State Extension, Plants For A Future (PFAF), Royal Horticultural Society) is in the references of our UK guide to caraway; they describe the plant itself, which is the same wherever it grows.
Plan next season before the problems start
This page gives you the thresholds; the planner turns them into your own calendar. It works from what you can observe and measure in your garden rather than from dates written for somebody else’s latitude.
Get the Global Garden Planner →Instant PDF download · Works in either hemisphere
How this guide is put together
The growing data on this page — sowing windows, pests, diseases, soil and site requirements — comes from named horticultural sources, listed in References below, checked against international horticultural research and extension sources. An automated pipeline assembles that verified data into the page you're reading: it selects which facts to lead with and builds the surrounding prose and layout. It does not invent a date, a source or a number — where a verified value for a field isn't available, the page leaves it out rather than guessing. A person reviews and publishes each page; nothing goes live unverified.
Last verified 2026-10-25
Related guides
More from the same group (herbs & aromatics):
Where To Go From Here
Take this crop from reading into a written plan for your own beds.
Keep going
Plan the next step
Use the printable SoilCommander planner for your region to turn this guide into sowing dates, bed layouts and weekly garden tasks.