I'm trying a couple of experiments with carrots. Maybe someone else has attempted this.
I got thinking when I planted my christmas potatoes - what about christmas carrots? Seeds duly sown early August. Plants are in an old coolbox filled with soil/compost and still romping on under fleece. They'll be moved to a cold GH at the first forecast frost.
My second thought was when I did the late sown onions. Why not carrots too? They're both biennial. I proceeded to sow carrots late august for these purposes into a 25 litre barrel. Again, I'll move to it the the GH.
OK I might as well admit it. The second lot of late sown carrot seedlings looked very odd and germinated like little rockets. Almost looked like lettuce....I checked the the tub I keep my veg seeds in. A packet of Arctic King looked accusingly at me from the top of the pile. Had to pull the flaming things out (still doing it) and sow carrot instead. :-[
Don't feel too bad. I'm sure most of us have made sowing errors like yours. A couple of months ago I had to resow home saved black radish when home saved lavatera came up instead :)
Late sown carrots should work for young tender roots. After all there are many diferent varieties, many bred for specific purposes, especially for forcing for example.
So if the variety you are trying is ultimately unsuccessful a stump or round rooted type may work instead. ;)
Good luck with the carrot trial - let us know how you get on.
Nah I don't feel bad. It was more comic than anything. All part of the learning curve.
Hmmm, thinking about I'm pretty sure I just used Autumn King. I just grabbed the first carrot packet that came to hand and they would have been the last ones I sowed normally. Possibly not the best variety for this experiment. Might try a sowing of an early variety into a container tomorrow. Quite fancy seeing how late I can push carrot sowings anyway.