I always have great success sowing carrots and snips in spring. I do small furrows of compost and then put fleece over them to keep the moisture in.
But at this time of year and it's heading for hot and dry next week I get very much reduced germination. Mainly I think they just dry out. I have used fleece for some during that recent, last hot spell, but with limited success. May have been something else though - fox footprints and an obvious ants nest didn't help much either!
So, can you fleece to keep them moist despite a higher temperature at this time of year or not? Any other tactics appreciated.
Thanks
um.. am I stating the obvious here by saying watering every other day or so. Are you not able to get to them that often?
I thought fleece would raise the temperature underneath? Can you construct a barrier around the edges to keep carrot fly off (it only needs to be 18in high).
Thanks, but I can't always get down there. There are some proper work gaps.
Also, I thought the classic wisdom was that you don't water carrots after they're sown until they germinate. Do people water?
We don't suffer from carrot root fly on our site for some reason - hurray :)
we cover ours from start to finish, we put lots of old leaves in the bottom, then the compost on top(ours are in big boxes), they seem to like it..if it gets really dry, I water in between the rows when I get the chance, or remember ;D
Thanks for the reply Manic, but I'm not quite sure - what is it that you cover them with? fleece?
sorry, earlypea, yes, fleece, we get lots of fly damage here :)
just thought, it is light fleece, not the frost protection one