Carrots are one of the easiest crops to grow in your garden and the taste is just marvellous. It is also an good crop for children to start growing in their own little patch.
Carrots don't like to be sown on newly manured soil, so I always plant them as a follow up crop to something else I've grown. All I do is dig the ground over and make the soil friable.
Now when your carrot seedlings appear do you thin them out? My answer to this question is no I do not. Why don't I? I don't because the carrot fly can smell carrots and pulling out the seedlings can damage the foilage, this in turn boost the scent that may well attract them to your crop.
As you can see from the photo at the top of this post, I allow my carrots to grow regardless of how crowded they are. When they get to around the size of small fingers, that's when I start pulling some to make room for the others to grow.
At sowing time, do try to sow more thinly so that you can eliminate the need to thin out. Planting spring onions next to your carrot crop can mask the scent of the carrot and give you some protection from carrot fly, or alternatively you can give your crop total protection by using some sort of cover.
Whatever you choose to do, try planting your own carrot crop, the taste is far superior to anything you will buy in the shops.
Happy Gardening!