Which carrot varieties will you growing in 2010 and why.
will you be covering , spraying or companion planting to beat the fly.
What will you be growing?
I have no luck with carrots. Not sure I'm going to bother any more.
Early Nantes - for quick salad crops sown succesionly over the growing season untill about aug
Autumn King for maincrop
Also going to have a go at growing some for exhibition - my grandfather is sourcing the seeds for me dont know what they are yet.
This year I grew 4 types and sowed once a month from March til July. My soil seems perfect for them. Next year my carrot empire is expanding beyond anything else: I'm going to have to step up the sowing, every 3 weeks maybe and at least double the space and sow as late as August again (did well the year before). I just can't keep up with demand - the more I sow the more I eat.
This year's keeper is Lisse de Meaux (realseeds) which I've raved about before - very long, dark, dense, sweet.
and I may try Jaune Obtuse de Doubs again (didn't get a good enough crop from that to assess it - sown in heatwave)
Blanc a Collet Vert is OFF the list - ugliest carrot ever - it doesn't exactly fork, but zigzags and it's disconcerting to see it's head sticking out the earth.
Next year for colour:
Yellowstone
Amarillo
Black spanish
Purple cosmic or haze (or both)
Atomic red
and hopefully the rare Afgan purple
Rodelika (taymarorganics)
"An improved bio-dynamic selection of Rothild. " Because I like dense sweet late carrots.
And having sown demeter/biodynamic parsnips this year with nearly 100% germination, I think there might be something in it!
I've decided I don't like Nantes types too much so only a handful of those in spring for an early crop. Mild and crisp is not for me.
Curiously, we don't have carrot root fly on our allotments ??? No-one covers them.
Early Nantes because I have a packet of seeds to use up.
Flyaway because they did so well this year.
Amsterdam Forcing 3. Because I want to try seed tapes to reduce the time and effort thinning out and these and Early Nantes are the only ones available.
I will grow Nantes and Chantenay both from Franchi - lots of seeds, did very well this year.
I also intend to grow many more. We have very gravelly soil and I thought this would badly affect the carrots, but they don't mind at all. I have taken to scattering my seed very thinly over a six inched wide row and then not bothering to thin. They seem to do fine. Lots of small carrots. Feed with BFB.
Will plant tagetes about the place. Also do main sowing while cow parsley in flower as recommended by Christine Walkden on TV programme.
Does anyone know where I can get Juwarot. I also want a purple carrot like they have in some parts of Turkey not an orange carrot with a purple skin.
They don't grow at all well in the garden - slugs.
I recommend Fucino from Seeds of Italy... can sow all year except Aug/Sept, which is perhaps as well as you get thousands, grow well in my raised carrot bed even through last Winter...
For mains Autumn King and Yellowstone.. Danvers Half Long from Browns does well in our heavier soil, it was the first I managed to grow...
:)
Nigel F1: Sow Feb-Jul Harvest: End of May through to Sep.
Autumn King 2: Sow Apr-Sep Harvest: end of Aug through winter.
Nantes Frubund F1: Sow Sep-Nov Harvest from early spring
That covers just about all of the year. Nantes Frubund is a new fast crop introduced by T&M last year.
Sugarsnax and Early Nantes - for earlies
Autumn King - maincrop
This year has been our best ever for carrots ;D
In the spring we dug out a trench and sieved the soil back in with last years spent compost, the carrots love it ;)
Also remembered to cover with hoops and enviromesh as soon as we sowed, so no fly at all 8)
Resistafly for the successionals with an early sowing in toilet-roll tubes under glass to plant out in March when the first outdoor sowing goes in. It did well for me this year even though I didn't treat it very well at all, and not a sign of fly...
Will also try something like Autumn King on a lateish sowing for winter maincrop to see if I can beat the fly by other means....
Oh so easy to answer...Mokum,,, they are so very crisp and sweet I believe there is not another one as good. I found them quite a few years ago, every year I grow several other types just to compare but Mokum always wins. This is one of only 4 veggie seeds I feel this strongly about.
Re fly, I have never had it, I think because I have always grown my carrots in 2 foot high raised beds
XX jeannine
QuoteI recommend Fucino
I looked through my packets and realised I had managed to pick up a packet for 50p. So looking forward to those.
Hopefully being sealed it will still be ok. It is from T&M Italian collection. Would have preferred Franchi, their seeds are generally a year younger. Ie they mostly sell seeds in 2010 which were harvested in 2009, while many other companies sell seeds in 2010 which were packeted in the year ending in the middle of 2009. Ie they were grown in 2008.
Quote from: earlypea on October 25, 2009, 08:31:41
Yellowstone
I grew these this year. They grew quite big, long and straight, but didn't have the sweetest flavour.
my personal favorites are
2x4
Touchon
Purple Dragon
big top
Imperator
Quote from: plainleaf2 on October 30, 2009, 15:06:34
my person favorites are
2x4
Touchon
Purple Dragon
big top
Imperator
I doubt that many will be interested in who your 'person favourites' are.
Back to the topic of carrots please.
Squash64
which varieties do plan on planting.
Quote from: saddad on October 25, 2009, 10:09:30
I recommend Fucino from Seeds of Italy... can sow all year except Aug/Sept, which is perhaps as well as you get thousands, grow well in my raised carrot bed even through last Winter...
For mains Autumn King and Yellowstone.. Danvers Half Long from Browns does well in our heavier soil, it was the first I managed to grow...
:)
After my verbena bonariensis experience I now realise I have to take you seriously! ;D ;D :P So I had a look for Fucino but Seeds of Italy don't seem to have it listed. T&M do though so I'll give it a whirl thanks.
Sorry Grawrc... yes it's T+M... "Vita Sementi" - The Taste of Italy... I have the packet in front of me to get it right... :-[
Early nantes
Autumn king
And our show ones are sweet candle grown in a 3ft high raised bed with an enviromesh lid, sieved soil and sand mix.
bump
Early nantes
Autumn king
Nantes 2 early
Tendersnax F1 Hybrid
they all grew and tasted good so why not :)
(http://img.techpowerup.org/090421/Do-not-feed-the-troll.png)