Planting Carrots to avoid thinning

[toomanytommytoes]

Both of my attempts at DIY seed tape gave very patchy germination and making the tapes was a faff and probably took longer than sowing + thinning. Pelleted seed looks much easier to sow accurately, but the choice of varieties is rather limited. I'm a convert to container carrots, sowing quite densely, 2-3 seeds per hole and nipping out the weakest seedling.

[ameno]

Both of my attempts at DIY seed tape gave very patchy germination and making the tapes was a faff and probably took longer than sowing + thinning. Pelleted seed looks much easier to sow accurately, but the choice of varieties is rather limited. I'm a convert to container carrots, sowing quite densely, 2-3 seeds per hole and nipping out the weakest seedling.

I do my container carrots in circular "rows" (concentric circles, I can usually fit three to a pot), and they usually give a great crop of salad carrots, with no carrot fly damage.
No good for maincrop though, really. Got a good crop of maincrop this year growing under fine mesh, though. I did thin them, but not that heavily. By the time the were fully grown, a lot of the carrots were touching each other

[greenishfing]

My battle with carrots is a long and losing one.I have yet to have a good crop. I have tried commercial carrot (and parsnip) tape thinking I wouldn't have to take the net off to thin but next to none germinated.....less for the carrot fly and slugs to eat I suppose, which they did.

I think I am going to give up on carrots next year but I really don't like to be beaten.

[Can the Man]

I have had reasonable success over the years growing carrots in flower pots, window boxes, exterior raised beds, and now raised beds in the poly tunnel.
These were ones I sowed back in September they are a really nice size about finger thick, and really sweet. No need to peel, just wash and steam.

[Kirk]

Carrots never really grew - all the easy ones don't it seems - but the easiest I did was to get a length of plastic mesh, the sort of large hole type of 2 to 2.5 inches. Lay it in place and rather carefully drop a seed in the middle of each square.

Light watering (spray) and let them grow, or otherwise. The spacing seemed about right. Hard part was one seed. Can make a little indentation in the middle to aim for/at.

[Sweet savory]

I grow in rows at the allotment with a pinch of seed every 3-4”. Then cover with mesh. Best results ever this year on bed covered with 2” home compost. Hardly any slugs liked my compost, maybe because of the crushed eggshells? Also grow them in containers at home when I try to sow fairly thinly but find they sort themselves out by pushing themselves away from each other anyway