Mouse eared carrots

[Florence Fennel]

The carrots in my raised bed are being swamped with chickweed. I've been patiently pulling it out, but it's getting the better of me and the tiny carrot seedlings. Should I take the top couple of inches of soil off the bed and then re-sow or am I fighting a losing battle?

[Two_Sheds]

It is a pain, but keep pulling it. Make sure you get the roots out (it's easier if you let it get big, just as it flowers is the best time for pulling)

[bearded bloke]

Probably won't help a lot Flo,but when I plant small seeds direct I drag out a V with the corner of a hoe & fill it with sand,set the seeds in that & then sprinkle a covering of sand.The old gardener where I washed pots in school summer holidays showed me this method,he reckoned being fine the sand helped with germination & deffo helped identify where the rows were at weeding times

[Florence Fennel]

It is a pain, but keep pulling it. Make sure you get the roots out (it's easier if you let it get big, just as it flowers is the best time for pulling)

That's what I'm doing TS, but when it gets big enough to pull, it's pulling out the carrot seedlings as well

identify where the rows were at weeding times

Oh if that were the problem BB, I can clearly see where the carrots are, I just wish they'd grow faster than the chickweed

[binley100]

We have a weed that looks like a carrot seedling .........very annoying ....its only as it grows that you can tell the difference ....Last year oh carefully weeded round them thinking they were carrots

[SarzWix]

Just cut the tops off the weed. Scissors or secs or something. Then they won't seed, or disturb the carrot?

[Shadylane]

We have a weed that looks like a carrot seedling .........very annoying ....its only as it grows that you can tell the difference ....Last year oh carefully weeded round them thinking they were carrots

Think I know what you mean, it produces pink/purple flowers. You can tell the difference by the colour, it's a slightly paler, almost bluey green compared to the vibrant green of a carrot seedling. This reminds me, I need to carrot my weed bed.

[SarzWix]

You could always eat it Flo:

Stellaria media is delicious, edible and nutritious, and has medicinal purposes and is used as a leaf vegetable, often raw in salads. It is one of the ingredients of the symbolic dish consumed in the Japanese spring-time festival, Nanakusa-no-sekku.

Stellaria media - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[Two_Sheds]

when it gets big enough to pull, it's pulling out the carrot seedlings as well

So ... pull it up, then leave it in situ for a day or two. Or forever: it can be a mulch, so long as it's not seeding

Just cut the tops off the weed.

But then it just regrows: you need to uproot chickweed

[Florence Fennel]

It's a bl@@dy nightmare. I only did it on Sunday and when I looked last night thousands more have popped up. I might have to sow some carrots somewhere else - the weed would be easier to manage if I could pull it and leave it on the soil as you say TS.

[Florence Fennel]

Now we'll see. I took the enviromesh off the bed, got out all (I hope) the chickweed by the root and sowed some more carrot seed in the gaps. Re-meshed the bed fingers firmly crossed.

[Two_Sheds]

I would mulch the bed with grass clippings once the carrots start showing