Carrots

[faerie9]

I keep getting told they are difficult to grow.
I know not to mabure the soil and to rake it as fine as I can.

I don't trust sowing seeds straight into the earth (mostly cos the first year I tried it and nothing came up whatsoever despite following instructions!) so was planning to sow seeds inside first.

Any tips or advice, feel free to tell me that my plan is all wrong if it is!!!  ;D

[faerie9]

[tim]

Min soil temp 40F - barely cover. In fact, where you spill the seeds, they will all germinate!! = Tim

[sandersj89]

I keep getting told they are difficult to grow.
I know not to mabure the soil and to rake it as fine as I can.

I don't trust sowing seeds straight into the earth (mostly cos the first year I tried it and nothing came up whatsoever despite following instructions!) so was planning to sow seeds inside first.

Any tips or advice, feel free to tell me that my plan is all wrong if it is!!!  ;D

Personally I would not start them incide first. The delicate tap root will not thank you when you come to move them.

Prepare the seed bed, then pull out a small trench about an inch deep by 4 inces wide. A pull hoe does this very weel.

Fill trench with compost and then make a very shallow drill in the compost to sow the seed in. Cover with a fine layer of compost and then f;eece it.

Make sure you keep the compost just damp and thin when required later.

I did this last year and got very good germination and nice straight carrots on my heavy clay soil.

Jerry

[gavin]

Very easy to grow - difficult to get a harvest? 

Protect against carrot fly with fleece!  (and countless magic spells :) :) :) - sorry, don't know which; my own imprecations don't work - but then they're mostly 4-lettered :) )

All best - Gavin

[Lady Cosmos]

Hia, I do not know what type soil you have. If clay try to grow short-rooted varieties. But it is important to prepare your soil well. The best result you get if you dig the ground in autumn, not much manure or compost, that gives you strange looking ones, dig sand in the soil. Sow direct outside under fleece, keep it warm and protected against carrotfly, and keep the soil moist, against root splitting.  I don't sow before april.  Good luck this year.

[nepeta]

HI,

Just don't give up if you don't have success this year. The first time I tried to grow carrots was sooo disappointing, virtually nothing worth eating. Last year I chose a different variety, Autumn King rather than Early Nantes with great success ;D

Somewhere on these boards there is a picture which I posted some time back.

Once you have tasted home grown carrots you won't want shop bought ones again. I am still pulling mine now, I left them in the ground and they have kept well only the odd slug about.

Sow straight into the ground, make sure it is well dug first and pick out every stone you can! once they start to come up keep moist and thin out regularly. I sow in April.

Good luck,
Nepeta

My carrot picture is in the gallery under the heading 'carrot harvest' if you want to see it.

[faerie9]

Thanks for the advice everyone,
I am looking forward to giving it a try this year :)

[Garden Manager]

I have similar problems. Carrots just will not grow if sown direct in the soil.

Last year i tried sowing in toilet roll inners and then planting the whole thing out. It was largely sucessfull though couldnt grow a decent amount this way.

I have thought this year to either use some of those narrow but deep pots you get roses in (ie sow the seed into the top of these then plant out) or Use some old drain pipe cut into sections and burried in the soil. These can then be filled with old compost and the carrot seed sown on the top. Probably will try both  ;D

Wontget nice neat rowsof carrots, but might get a decent crop all the same.  :)

[Murdo]

I would recommend you get a copy of Kitchen Garden - March 2005 - issued last Thursday excellent 4 page article with beginners tips for £3-10. If you don't want to buy check the local library.

Murdo

[Carrot Cruncher]

Hello,


A few tips for growing carrots:

Never sow carrots in soil that has been manured in the last three seasons.

Never sow any deeper than half an inch.

If you have stony ground, try to remove as many as possible.

The biggest tip of all is to wear rubber/latex gloves when handling seeds as oil from the hands will contaminate the seeds, this is the most common problem with people who cant grow carrots.

My dad cant grow carrots if he has handled the seeds with bare hands. I on the otherhand can. It really is down to the individual. But if in doubt try wearing gloves and see how you get on. I know it sounds stupid but it is true.

This is one of the tiddlers I grew a few years ago (Modeled by my dad). Had bigger believe it or not last year that weighed 6lb.

[Mothy]

My word Carrot Cruncher!!  :o errrrr, what a whopper ;D

Seriously though, interesting theory that I will make sure that I don't handle the seeds come sowing time. Do you have any tips to beat carrot fly, which has always been the biggest problem on our plot, I'm told. I am about  to invest in a roll of 17gsm fleece and some hoops to throw it over. Any advice?

Thanks,
TimJ 

[Carrot Cruncher]

Hello Tim,

In the 25 years that I've been growing veg I have never had carrot fly. I always start sowing seeds the first week in march, under cloches. This means the carrot will be more advanced and carrot fly will not attack the top of the carrot.

Always have the earth covering the top (orange part) of the carrot as this is the part that the fly will attack. However you can combat this problem using fleece as you have already said. Also you can grow french marigolds and parsley close by, as they are more partial to both of these than carrots.

Please note that carrot fly are only in action from the beginning of May to the middle of June.

Good Luck. Hope this is of help.

CC

[ina]

and............ I read somewhere that carrot flies are not active after 4 pm so  I only disturb the carrots (thinning, weeding, whatever) after that time.

[Merry Tiller]

Are carrot fly's clocks digital or analogue ???

[Wicker]

Good point Merry Tiller!! ;D ;D

All good advice but have always believed that there is more than one "flush" of carrot fly in a season and this is what the RHS have to say

The maggots hatch from eggs laid by the carrot fly. Newly hatched larvae feed on the fine roots but later bore into the tap roots. The brown scars are where tunnels near the surface have collapsed. Two or three generations of carrot fly can occur between May and September, with the pest overwintering as larvae or pupae.

Late sown carrots (after mid-May) avoid the first generation of this pest; similarly carrots harvested before late August avoid the second generation

Fleece or Enviromesh are essential I think - we cover when sown and leave on until harvested - only weeding infrequently and very carefully - works for us ::)

[thistle]

I have problems with carrots too.  They germinate ok but slugs raze every single one down.  It looks like they never germinated but a very close inspection revealed a millimetre or so of green stubs.    I hate slugs...  >:(

[ina]

Are carrot fly's clocks digital or analogue ???

You never saw the small biological watches strapped to their little legs?

[tim]

I hate to disagree with CC, but I reckon that most of the maggot damage is at or near the roots. And yes, there are 2-3 generations of fly, from spring to autumn.

We know that some folk have never had a problem, but most do, whatever tricks they employ, so it does seem common sense to 'fleece' & you can then guarantee success. = Tim

[Learner Gardener]

Why should you not manure the season (or more) before sowing ?

If you cannot manure how can you use this site in a crop rotation plan as you won't want to grow carrots on the same bed as the previous year ?

[Wicker]

Manured soil is reckoned to lead to "forking" of the carrots, LG.

As for rotating, we do with brassicas, potatoes etc but our carrots have been in the same beds for a few years - this has fertilizer, sand and compost dug in every year to keep the soil loose and open and so allow the roots to "stretch" down.  So far this has worked for us over many years but, as usual, I say this with fingers crossed - makes typing really difficult hence the typing errors  ::)