I've tried to plant them early, I've tried to plant them late. I've tried them in full sun and partial shade. I always plant them shallow with about 1/4" of soil and a sprinkling of straw or vermiculite to hold in moisture. A few radish seeds tossed in to mark the row.

Once the carrot sprouts, they seem to be happy and grow well until I yank 'em out to eat. My problem is getting them to germinate. (very, very low percentage rate despite several varieties of NEW seed being used.)

This year I tried pre-sprouting them using the paper-towel/baggie method. As soon as I saw tiny little white roots I planted the seed. No luck. Only about 1% has made a living plant. Do you think it's because MT has such low nighttime temps? We are looking at 38 degrees again tonight, and about 65-70 during the day. (note* relatives parsnips, celery, parsley, cilantro and dill are all doing well.)

I actually read about someone gluing carrot seeds to a length of toilet paper. He just used a very small dab of glue - that's one way of spacing them without springing for expensive seed tape! When it was time to plant, he just laid the strips down and covered with a layer of soil.

While growing and sprouting carrots, you need to lightly sprinkle your soil. Not keep it soaked. Just keep that top 1/2" moist. My climate is dry, but I typically go out every other day and give the carrot bed a few sweeps with the hose. I do that until the tops are at least a couple inches high and I think the plants will be fine on just my drip system.

If you're getting poor germination or they're sprouting then not doing anything, I'm thinking it's either too much--or more likely--too little water, the seeds you're buying are poor quality, or you might have something like slugs that mow the new growth over before you see it.