Topic: What did I do wrong?

[only small]

Hi all,
I planted some carrots in one bed, not too many only three rows, and achieved 3 carrots, completely stunted and not even a mouthful. So I tried again in a different bed a month or so later, but still according to the packet, well within sowing times. Counting the germination rate today I think I have again got 3 carrots growing  :'(
Somebody please tell me why my carrots do not germinate, I followed the instructions on the packet but nada. :-\

Only small

[Plottie]

Well Only Small....
I sowed 2 beds of carrots this year, one sucessful and one not.  The successful ones were sown during our usual damp weather but the unsuccessful bed was sown during a very dry spell and (I presume) then failed to germinate
Could this explain your failure??
Plottie

[Palustris]

Well, don't worry. We have been sowing carrots in every possible combination of methods etc. over the last 8 years and in all that time if you put together all the carrots achieved you would just about have a plateful.

[Lesley Jay]

Could it be caused by the seeds ? This year as well as buying seeds from the usual catalogue that I always use I bought seeds from other catalogues that were cheaper. One type of seed being carrots. I sowed the cheaper packet first and only got an odd carrot or two. Then I sowed the carrot seed that I always grew and got full rows.

[only small]

I think it maybe to do with the dry spell as I only got my plot once the heatwave was on! Due to location of plot, I am not able to go every day to water, so this seems the most likely explanation. Depressing though as the chap opposite me has several rows of lovely looking carrots :-\

Lesley Jay, which brand of seed did you use to achieve full rows? Might have to get some for next year ;D

only small
xx

[Doris_Pinks]

only small I have never been able to grow carrots, and my germination rates were similar to yours! (i always put it down to birds and slugs!)
Hoever have followed Jerry's example this year (thank you agin Jerry!) and I have got edible carrots!!!  Try this link!

http://www.allotments4all.co.uk/yabbse/index.php/topic,9351.0.html

[mellor]

hi

I know my mrs' folks in kent struggle with carrots because of the dryness of the soil and climate, yet me in nottm have no probs even in the back garden. A tip i saw was to make a V using a normal spade and fill this with compost, perhaps an alternative to diggin out a whole trench. A tip for seeds Giant Flak from the Van hage seed company.

[tim]

Dry? So - soak the soil well - sow thin & shallow - cover with polythene , or such, to keep the moisture in - remove at germination.

[only small]

Superb, thank you all for the replys/links. I will now be sowing all future carrot crops in compost trenches with polythene coverings ;D
Our site is quite high and blustery so wonder if this was also a factor in the drying out of the soil. Will persevere though.

Only Small
xx

[Lesley Jay]

The seed I used was Fly Away from Thompson and Morgan. www.thompson-morgan.com  There will be people on this site that don't rate T & M but with beetroot seed this year I again bought from a cheaper catalogue and the germination was dreadful. So I went through my seed tin and found an old packet from Thompson & Morgan and got a full row of beetroot from it.

[supersprout]

Hi Only Small, I had the same problem this year, will try fluid sowing next year! ;D

[Melbourne12]

The seed I used was Fly Away from Thompson and Morgan. www.thompson-morgan.com  There will be people on this site that don't rate T & M ....

We too found that Flyaway gave good results, and the taste and colour are both excellent (especially good raw).

I know that it's a bit unconventional, but since we lose a lot of seedlings to slugs, pellets or no, we sowed our carrots in seed compost in lengths of plastic guttering.  When they were an inch or so high, they were "transplanted" into their permanent position in the lottie by sliding sections out of the gutter.  This way we lost very few plants (you've got to thin them a bit anyway), and the only downside is a tendency to fork rather more than if they're sown in situ.

[Crash]

As you know I haven't had my allotment for long. Talking to other people on our site the only people to do well was a couple that came along cleared the site planted a row of carrots and weren't seen again till they harvested the biggest carrots on the field!

[Lesley Jay]

The best grower of carrots and parsnips on our site grows them in leaf mould. He has got that much leaf mould incorporated in the ground over many, many years that when you walk on his plot your feet sink into the ground. We are on clay soil.

[flowerlady]

Lucky him,  mine look like corkscrews >:(  There is just too much rock in the ground to grow carrots with success. 

Some things are just not meant to be I suppose  :'(

[Alimo]

I only got 3 carrots - but they were the best tasting carrots ever !!

Alimo  ;D

[the_snail]

Flowerlady my tip would be to make a small raised bed and to sive or riddle the soil so it is fine and crumbly. Add some well rotted compost to it, that would help with the water retention. Please do not add unrotted manure to the bed as carrots do not like unrotted manure.

The Carrot bed does not have to be big. It can be say 6 foot by 4 foot, or what ever you can manage :)

Hope that helps for next year :)

The_Snail

[only small]

If carrots are quite keen on leaf mould, do you think that if I planted them quite close to my ancient apple tree, where the soil is quite crumbly due to leaves not having been cleared for years, they would do rather well? This seems logical to me, but am not sure if being close to the tree would affect them badly for any reason?

Only small
xx

[terrace max]

I finally cracked the carrot thing this year by sowing them into loo rolls and transplanting them when they had a good bit of top growth.

It's a bit of a faff, but worth it especially for the ones I'm pulling now which seem to almost glow orange in the autumn dusk...