carrot beds

[steveg1966]

On my allotment in one area we have a massive problem with weeds (the usual suspects)so this season we are going to cover with membrane and build raised beds out of scaffold planks that I have got whats the minimum depth I would need for carrots and other root veg I thought about 18 inch deep.just to point out the less weedy area is very stony and we are gradually clearing so that will be suitable for root veg next year.

[steveg1966]

[manicscousers]

Our dedicated carrot/parsnip beds are 18" deep but they are onto open ground underneath. I think the roots can go quite far down and the soil on top stops any weeds getting through 

[Robert_Brenchley]

If you lay thick cardboard (the sort they use for big boxes) on top of the soil, and then put whatever you fill the beds with over that, it'll stop the weeds getting through, and it'll rot away. Parsnips might be a problem, but you could grow stumpy carrots - or short parsnips for that matter - in not too great a thickness. I don't know what you're planning exactly, but scaffolding boards give you a foot or so depth, which should be enough.

[Digeroo]

Precisely what weeds are we talking about.  I put a two inch layer of multipurpose or recycle compost in a row about three inches wide and one inch deep and sow parsnips and carrots into that.  It suppresses the annual weeds an then you can hoe between the rows.  No use what so ever for perennials though.

[Debs]

I haven't had any success with carrots in the ground as they usually fork, so am thinking of trying to grow in pots.

How closely should/can they be grown?

Debs

[fish4card]

if carrots are forking you soil is not loose enough or is to stoney