Autumn Sown Carrots

[Jameslovell]

Hi All

This is my first winter with an allotment so am reall keen to keep at least a small part going over the winter months.

I am looking for a bit of advice on carrots. What type should I be looking to plant in the next few months for over-wintering? Should I sow in with my garlic to prevent pests, or are they not a problem over winter?

Thanks in advance.
Jay

[Eyren]

Hi James!

I'm a comparative carrot newbie, and this is my first reasonably successful year of carrot-growing, but I'll offer the wisdom of my limited experience

Firstly, I don't think you'll have a problem with carrot fly over the winter - garlic probably won't help against slugs, though!

I've seen it suggested that you sow an early variety at this time of year, as they will put on some decent growth before winter - maincrop varieties really need to be sown in the spring. Early Nantes has done well for me, though in my case I sowed it in February for a late spring/early summer harvest. However even early carrots can be quite slow-growing when the weather is cool, so you want to get them in asap.

Hope this helps!

[Alice]

Good question James. My carrots were rubbish this year - the fly got them all. I said I was never going to grow them again - but now I'm wondrering if I could plant some now for overwintering. Will be interesting to hear what others say.

[lynda66]

i planted some 2 weeks ago, cos you can never have too many carrots oopssss sorry was autumn king

[SarzWix]

If you're really quick, you might get some Autumn King in - they're supposed to be hardy enough to stay in the ground all winter, and if you cover them with a cloche or some fleece they should keep growing for into autumn. They reckon to be ready in 70 days.
Or Thompson & Morgan do one called 'Mini-Finger' which they say crops in 60 days, and one called 'Nantes Frubund : Fast Crop' which was specially developed for Autumn sowing to harvest in Spring.
You can find them all here; Illustrated Index of : Carrots although I daresay other suppliers will have some of them too

[di]

He didn't explain why but a chap at the lottie advised me to block sow my overwintering instead of in rows.

[lynda66]

i've sowed 2 rows of carrots, and i've block sown a square metre .... the line ones will need to be thinned by taking the small ones out, so the others have room to get to full size, the block sown ones have much more room, and by the looks of it, most of them will be able to be left to grow to full size

i think that's why he suggested it.

[Snadger]

This is a new one on me! I've never heard of sowing carrots at this time of year for overwintering?

My June/July sowed carrots are pulled for use overwinter though and sometimes up until about April/May!

[HeyWayne]

This is a new one on me! I've never heard of sowing carrots at this time of year for overwintering?

My June/July sowed carrots are pulled for use overwinter though and sometimes up until about April/May!

Oh come on Snadger get with the programme, everyone knows about over wintering carrots! Shees!

No, really, I'm with you dude!

[bluemoon]

I'm going to sow Autumn King at the weekend. I'm going to put them in a small raised bed that I normally use for salad crops. This will, I hope, prevent them from becoming waterlogged in my clay soil and will allow me to give them a degree of protection too.

[Snadger]

Oh come on Snadger get with the programme, everyone knows about over wintering carrots! Shees!

No, really, I'm with you dude!

You had me worried for a moment there Wayne..........until I put my reading specs on!

[Two_Sheds]

Use a maincrop variety like Autumn King for over-wintering. Sow April-July.
Slugs will have a good go at them in a cool wet winter.

[maytreefrannie]

Good question James. My carrots were rubbish this year - the fly got them all. I said I was never going to grow them again - but now I'm wondrering if I could plant some now for overwintering. Will be interesting to hear what others say.

I've got good results from growing carrots in bins - it seems (or so I've read) that the carrot fly can only fly up to a height of 21 inches (or whatever that is in Europe-measure) and once you use a bin of more than that they won't be able to get you.

I'm no expert but I grew them in bins this summer and it seems to have worked. I'm planning to try some overwintering ones in a bin again.

[Jameslovell]

What is a bin? I heard about a fine mesh fence around them for the same purpose. Or are they the same thing?

[zazen999]

As in dustbin...