Can anyone give me info about how I save carrots for seed. I know they need to be kept for the following year but really need some exact instructions on how to do it to give them the best shot I can.
Help please
XX Jeannine
There are instructions on this site http://www.realseeds.co.uk/roots.html near the bottom of the page.
Hi, I have those instructions but felt they were a bit vague, specifically the bit that says about cold winters.I am waiting for a return call from them anyway but wondered if anyone had done it personally. XX Jeannine
Jeannine,
Why do you want to keep carrot seeds?
There always seem to be loads in a packet, certainly plenty for one year, or have you stumbled accross a fly resistant strain by accident?
George
Because the carrot in question is extremely rare world wide and on a endangered list.
Is it an old variety? I am interested because I have taken on a 2nd half plot next to mine and I am going to convert it to an enclosed 'cottage garden', organic with old varieties of vegetables and flowers and using hazel poles instead of bamboo etc.
The veg will be grown amongst the flowers and I shall have a small pond to attract frogs and birds.
I am going to document its development on my site and would love to acquire old varieties.
George
It is Afghani Purple, not available as seed in the UK only from seed library of the HDRA if you are a member, but most folks who ordered didn't get it.I managed to find a bit from the US equivalent of HDRA as I am a member there too but only 1 person in the US had it listed and that was a school. If you look up (Afghani)Purple carrot on this site you will see the chat re the variety. As carrots started in Afghanistan it seems appropriate to maintain it.
I shared what I got with another person and I believe there were another 2 that had it, beyond that it is almost impossible to find.
So I feel obliged to try to get the seeds to share.
XX Jeannine
I have lots of heritage peas and beans from HDRA George. I think the carrots are lifted and stored in sand then planted out again in Spring... it is the isolation that I found difficult...
:-[
I have some carrots going to seed, all I did was leave them where they where planted, most plants at the end of their natural term will produce seed without any prompting, leeks and onions do it willy nilly.