Allotments 4 All

I've never been able to grow carrots successfully  >:( Had a few hits with blue ones (funnily enough) and the little round ones grown in a tib, but other than that .....

So this year I have bought about 10 packets of different varieties and I'm trying 10 different ways of growing them  ;D

I WILL NOT BE BEATEN BY THE HUMBLE CARROT  8)

Hi

Early Nantes in for a week, i got a variaty that comes on seed tape.

Next week I plant a row of a different variaty and then 2 weeks after that i plant another row with the seed tape and then 2 weeks after that i plant another row of another variaty.

Should give me a steady supply.

There planted with onions on either side of the bed to confuse the carrot fly, and there is about 6 inches of decent soil before they hit the clay but i am hoping that having dug it over and dug in manure that the carrots might get though  :D

Cambourne7

I can understand why a liberal sowing of Nigella Lawson would keep pests at bay. Might try it this year.

LOL!!!!

our carrots never get a chance to get a decent size our kids our to keen and pick them tiny they say they taste lush though

I constantly fail with sowing in rows, but broadcast is quite a different matter!!

These were for the WI market.

if you plant carrots in the black buckets how do they do?

Been out and got some mixed flower seeds, like the ones Monty used. I have sown my carrot seeds in rows about 1ft apart. should I sow these flower seeds in between them?? I only have two raised beds about the size and shape of baths to grow the carrots in, is there enough space, do you think? I have some plastic drain pipes. I heard you could grow long carrots in those. Anyone know how to go about it? :-\

I haven't had much luck with carrots - my soil is heavy and stoney  :-\

So this year I have tried sowing them under my new blueberry bushes, in a raised bed full of new compost. I'm hoping I will get a crop before the bushes take off, what do you think? Also sowed some radishes and salad leaves as an experiment

I've sowed Nantes carrots in a black bucket (fairly thickly) with multi purpose compost and no feeding.   Excellent results.   A few fell foul to carrot root fly but not enough to worry about.  I sowed them late summer and we were eating them throughout the winter (only two of us so they went a long way).  Must have cropped several pounds.

Calamity, don't want to put a damper on your try but... your blueberries need acid compost or they will not grow well,and your carrotts need regular compost, XX Jeannine

if you look carefully, you can see the carrots in between the parsnips, just showing their heads  :)

I had terrible problems with carrot fly last year, so this year I've filled a bath with multi purpose compost, sharp sand and John Innes.  The bath is covered with a thick sheet of perspex and there are lots of baby carrots.  I sowed Red Dragon, St Valery, Sugarsnax, Supreme Chantenay Red Cored, Sytan and Yellowstone.  Oh, and pipex (?)

Intend to replace perspex with fleece next week.

Hi Jeannine

I have put lime free compost in for my blueberries - I once read that most plants can cope with lime free soil, it's just the lime haters that can't survive in normal soil.

I have a camellia and a Pieris both growing at home with other normal stuff happily planted underneath, so I thought I'd give it a try. I will let you know if it works!

Also have got some black flower buckets from a friend and have a polytunnel being made, so hopefully if the carrots don't work I can sow some more.

That will be very interesting to find out actually. I am not familiar with the flowers, only the blueberries which I have grown for many years, but I am still not too old to learn.XX Jeannine

I planted (in veg patch/raised bed in back garden) a row of Early Nantes 3 about 6 weeks ago, 7 germinated!
This weekend I have planted rainbow, Purple Dragon and Mr James Scarlet in the allotment.
I have never grown carrots before! So we'll see what happens.
At the allotments, some people say that they just cannot grow carrots, but there are others that do not have any problems, some claim that others have different soils to them!
This year is a learning year, and we have lots of paper to write down how we should do things differently next year!!
Oh, we planted them with Onions to repel each others pests, so we'll see how successful that works out! If any germinate!
Sue

Quote from: cambourne7 on April 21, 2007, 16:31:21There planted with onions on either side of the bed to confuse the carrot fly, and there is about 6 inches of decent soil before they hit the clay but i am hoping that having dug it over and dug in manure that the carrots might get though  :D

Cambourne7

dont manure - it will cause the carrots to splt and have multi roots best to plant in soil manured for the previous years crop

Quote from: cacran on April 22, 2007, 19:16:47
  I have some plastic drain pipes. I heard you could grow long carrots in those. Anyone know how to go about it? :-\

I saw a chap using drain pipes on GW last year but I think he was growing long parsnips & they were very long!

Thanks Marymary, guess I could just try a couple, see how they go.

I am growing a heritage white carrot this year - but it's my first attempt at carrots, so I'm a bit worried because I'm usually a failure with something for the first time...