Carrots in pots

[Kimbo]

I have quite a few pots of carrot seedlings comingly along nicely and some are starting to develop carrot type leaves but I have noticed that there is a bit of stem showing below the leaves - do I need to add a little more compost to cover these up?

[pigletwillie]

Indeed you can or the tops go green. Add just enough to cover the top of the carrot.

[Benacre]

I tend to grow short rooted varieties but there is no reason why one cannot grow "Autumn King" in deeper pots

[Cutecumber]

Hello

I wouldn't worry too much about your baby carrots at this early stage as long as the stems don't get too tall and cause them to fall over.

My personal experience of container grown carrots is that the seedlings always have a little extra stem above the soil surface, under their seed leaves. It's not caused any long term problems for my crops, and it's good to top-up pots with compost or mulch once the carrot tops are growing strongly, anyway. If you do it now, just be extra careful as they are a bit delicate.

Growing long carrots in pots can be surprisingly successful. I had my best ever crop of Amsterdam Forcing last year by (I believe) minimising the watering - much less top growth and bigger roots. Treat 'em a bit mean!

[Kimbo]

Hello

I wouldn't worry too much about your baby carrots at this early stage as long as the stems don't get too tall and cause them to fall over.

My personal experience of container grown carrots is that the seedlings always have a little extra stem above the soil surface, under their seed leaves. It's not caused any long term problems for my crops, and it's good to top-up pots with compost or mulch once the carrot tops are growing strongly, anyway. If you do it now, just be extra careful as they are a bit delicate.

Growing long carrots in pots can be surprisingly successful. I had my best ever crop of Amsterdam Forcing last year by (I believe) minimising the watering - much less top growth and bigger roots. Treat 'em a bit mean!

thanks for that

I am growing ideal, sirocco, automn king and sugarsnax in pots of different sizes. I will top up the compost when they are a bit stronger, glad to know its normal to have a little extra stem under the seed leaves

[lyndap]

I've got early nantes growing in a bucket which I will earth up when they get a bit bigger.Mine sound to be at the same stage as yours.I'm also going to be growing Autumn king and purple haze in B&Q buckets.

[Michelle]

I've got some big tubs (used to be full of tennis balls) that we're planning on planting some carrots in.

What is the best thing to fill the tubs with?

Will ordinary compost from the garden centre do? Got a feeling I should be mixing it with something else? I don't have a lot of money to spend on bags and bags of stuff to fill the tubs with!

I've got a composter that we've had for 18 months and I think there's probably some good stuff in the bottom of it so I could probably add some of that.

[leona]

add sand in equal parts

[bramble]

Carrots like a sandy stone free soil so compost and sand should be fine. Don't forget to cover the pots to protect from carrot root fly. Netting or fleece will be fine.

[Alice]

I just grow mine in compost Michelle. You can add some sand or vermiculite if you have it but I wouldn't go out and buy it. They don't need fed. I take the time to plant the seed 1" apart each way, so no thinning required, and I harvest by emptying the whole pot. No problem with carrot fly this way. I get very good crops with Early Nantes. Got some pots on the go at the moment and have some seeds planted in a raised bed. Be interesting to compare how they get on.

[dexterdoglancashire]

I didn't realise that you could grow carrots in pots. Looking forward to giving it a go with the seeds for purple carrots I got in my prize pack for being MOM last year!
Bernie aka Dexterdog