The dark art of growing CARROTS!!!

[binley100]

Thought it was manure you avoided with root veg? Welcome to the vine btw.......

[Feral007]

Pots do I really have to bare my chest? Encouraging curses at the compost heap I can cope with, but me cheeks are already chilly, and I don't want to frighten the wombats too much.

Back on subject...........I've never done much with carrots as my father always found them a pain growing what with the forking etc, he said if there are any stones or hard clumps in the soil it sends them off in different directions. This year tho I tried min globe carrots and they were great! Being only small and round didn't have any of the long root vege problems. Next season I'm going to plant lots of them for salads, and I'm even going to be brave and have a go at the longer variety - the horses make short shift of the little globe ones! and you'd need a lot for a carrot cake.

[CaroltheCarrot]

Hm, well its a big secret but if you promise not to tell!
Sow them, cover them with fleece until they start to show their little heads, whip the fleece off and...... ignore them. I dont bother thinning and I get very few weeds in their bed.
They are in a big bed (3 scaffold boards high) filled with sand and mpc. I dont need to bother watering them either(surprise surprise)

Diet of neglect really, pretty much like my kids

Someone techie minded (or very bored) may be able to dig out a photo of the thinnings I posted a while ago

[lukens]

Hm, well its a big secret but if you promise not to tell!
Sow them, cover them with fleece until they start to show their little heads, whip the fleece off and...... ignore them. I dont bother thinning and I get very few weeds in their bed.
They are in a big bed (3 scaffold boards high) filled with sand and mpc. I dont need to bother watering them either(surprise surprise)

Diet of neglect really, pretty much like my kids

Someone techie minded (or very bored) may be able to dig out a photo of the thinnings I posted a while ago

Confused.com

[redser]

If the roots were turning up, maybe they were short on water?

[lukens]

I'm sure I read that the belief that organic matter affects the growth of carrots (makes them fork, etc) has been proven to be unfounded, when actually investigated in trials.

[Jeanied]

Well Year 4 at school had success scraping a drill in some rather clayey soil on the plot, covering it over and ignoring them! They should have quite a harvest in the autumn. There aren't loads of slugs and snails on the plot though- but there is a rather fat toad living under the rhubarb!

[CaroltheCarrot]

Confused.com

Clear as mud as usual I am. What I should have said was that the first year I grew them in the big bed I thinned them out, the thinnings were a good size, the ones I left didnt get any bigger so now I dont bother thinning

[SeleneMourie]

We are the only people at the plots to be growing carrots!
Most of them can't be bothered digging out the quarry stones 2 feet deep but we did

Made shallow drills in the clay soil end of April, sprinkled MPC along them, sprinkled carrot seeds along them, covered them a little bit, chucked fleece over them, took fleece off in June, ate a few 4inch straight carrots end of July... the rest are still in the ground getting bigger

The parsnips went in next to them with the same treatment and are thinner then the carrots but not pulled any of them up yet, waiting until later in the year when hopefully they will be huge!!!

The OH watered them for the 1st time a few days ago... Hmmmm come to mention it i've not had to weed them really either :/

Yup that my big carrot secret!

[thegreatcob]

Carrots should grown in a soil mix of either sifted compost or fine sand ,sifted compost and fined milled peat moss. The soil for large carrots like autumn king should be at least 18 inches deep
To prevent carrot fly carrots should be planted mixed with onions.

[CaroltheCarrot]

Hello and welcome thegreatcob, I also forgot to mention my carrrots have a leek sentry guard,not onions but will do the job

[binley100]

One of my carrot patches has been attacked by what looks like (according to Dr Hessayon) carrot willow aphid which turns the foliage a reddy colour and stops them growing. They are all coming out tomorrow.
I've another patch (different bed) coming up and so far they look ok.
The ones in the CG look fantastic. well the foliage does ......can't wait to dig some up and see whats underneath

[Snadger]

Always grow reasonable carrots, but always under enviromesh.

This year, sowed 5 packets.................zilch!

Sowed another five packets later when the soil was slightly warmer............................not a great germination rate, but at least I got some.

Sowed another packet to fill in the gaps and eventually it looks like I will have enough carrots to see me through the winter.

Alternate my carrot bed between carrots and mixed veg.

[Pa Snips]

I think I got nearly 100% germination, though they're mostly still quite small after four months of growing.
My grow-medium is a mixture of roughly ⅓ sharp sand and ⅔ MPC.
The seeds were heavily scattered on top, followed by a dusting of more compost, then watered.
So far there has been no forking or abnormalities of any kind.