How do you sow your carrots?

[Finedon.Dandy]

Hubbie is around on Sat and I believe the weather will be good for sowing. I cannot bend to sow at the mo (see general chit chat) and hubbie doesnt have much confidence in seed sowing so I would like to make things as easy as possible for him. I have read recently two ideas on carrots sowing and wondered if anyone thought them any good. Apparently you can broadcast them to avoid thinning out (I manage to sow thin anough to avoid this anyway but as hubbie will be doing it - will this be easier for him?) Also if you do sow in a drill you can top with vermiculite to prevent a crust forming on the drill. Also the site was well dug late autumn and looks good to my not very experienced eyes but it took all my effort to stop him not forking over before planting the cabbages last weekend (I believe they like to be in firm ground but of course coulnt find it in any of my books to proove it!) can I tell him just to give it a light rake before sowing?

Sorry this has been a bit of a waffle - its cheered me up having something to ask about.

Tammy

[HeyWayne]

Loo rolls.

I'd say it's pretty much idiot proof (with all due respect to hubby), if I can do it, anyone can.

Stand a load of loo rolls up on end in a seed tray, fill them with compost. Place 2-3 seeds on each loo roll compost tube and then cover with thin layer of compost. Water well and watch em grow!

When it then comes to planting out you just plant each loo rool (entire thing) in the ground. The loo roll acts as a root trainer and will rot completely in time.

[carlseawolf]

Did the same as monty on gardeners world this year and just broadcast sowed the seeds and then raked them lightly to cover them.

[momol]

I broadcast mine (very thin), in between sping onions and garlic and then thin them out when they show 2 real leaf stage.

[Uncle Albert]

I'm another broadcaster/raker...

[Matt.]

I had limited sucess with paper pots last year. This time I'm going to use a technigue origically sugested by Snadger:

Use your spade to slice the soil vertically then rock the handle away from you and back to make a V shape. Fill this with compost and sand and sow the seeds on the top. Its a good idea to water before sowing as the compost will compact a bit and then top up as necessary.

This *should* help me grow forkless carrots this year despite heavy clay soil. I think the key is to not disturb the roots once the seeedlings form.

I'll use the broadcast technique for parmex carrots (ball shaped veg quite like a large radish).

Good luck!

[squashysu]

sorry, but what is broadcasting??????

Dont have a scooby on that one!

[Nicos]

I rake over first so the top layer of soil is fine, then scrape grooves about 6" apart and about 1/2 cm deep and sprinkle several fine pinches along the groove , mark off each end with a stick, then gently cover over with fine topsoil from either side of the groove.
Then proper labels, then cover with fleece and leave well alone for several weeks.
If it doesn't rain much then I'll water gently through the fleece.
Fleece stays on until the last carrot is pulled.
Thinning out a bit at a time eating the thinning prevents waste.


Broadcasting....chuck a handful all over one area as you wold 'sprinkle' grass seed!

[zazen999]

Hi

What I love most about this forum; apart from the great people - is the plethora of advice, and wonderful array of options.

I am currently trying out PW's easy way with carrots; combined with interplanting with onion seeds; straight into the ground. Covering with a fleece cloche until ready to pick. My heavy clay plot was rotavated a few days ago; and we are sowing this way tonight. Will sow about 1/3 of the length of one bed, and sow another 1/3 in a month or so, and the rest a month after that.

http://www.growfruitandveg.co.uk/gra...rots_4983.html

[HeyWayne]

Hi

What I love most about this forum; apart from the great people - is the plethora of advice, and wonderful array of options.

I am currently trying out PW's easy way with carrots; combined with interplanting with onion seeds; straight into the ground. Covering with a fleece cloche until ready to pick. My heavy clay plot was rotavated a few days ago; and we are sowing this way tonight. Will sow about 1/3 of the length of one bed, and sow another 1/3 in a month or so, and the rest a month after that.

http://www.growfruitandveg.co.uk/gra...rots_4983.html

Sat in "the thinking room" earlier and I thought about interplanting carrots and onions - my thinking was that the smell of the onions would disguise the carrots and thus fooling the darned carrot fly. Am I way off?

[zazen999]

On the knob as we say in our house.

[Two_Sheds]

I planted out my baby carrots today ( in the rain ).
If I sow direct on the lottie, the slugs eat the lot. So now I am sowing in loo rolls, and transplanting as soon as the 'true leaves' appear (you can't leave them too long in loo rolls because the tap root will be damaged)

I will now by thinking about fleece against carrot fly, the worst time for egg-laying is mid-May to mid-June. This is a good site: Carrot Growing - In depth guide to growing carrots

[Rocketron]

Sat in "the thinking room" earlier and I thought about interplanting carrots and onions - my thinking was that the smell of the onions would disguise the carrots and thus fooling the darned carrot fly. Am I way off?

No, I've seen that suggested many times and am trying it myself this year.

[gardenplot]

I will now by thinking about fleece against carrot fly, the worst time for egg-laying is mid-May to mid-June. This is a good site: Carrot Growing - In depth guide to growing carrots

I am sowing in loo rolls too, Thanks for the tip Two_Sheds
Was not sure when the worst time for carrot fly was

[JO,JO]

sown parmex in two containers in feb now got two leaves on them,my collegue at work grows them this way for years,she does not thin them out, i am going the same route and not thinning then when she has pulled a few she sows again, she has carrots all the way through apparently. i also have sown eraly nantes in raised beds in between onion seeds, i will be thinning these out soo glad my oions are coming through at last.