Growing Carrots?

[Greentea]

Skychild, Ive grown carrots in a raised bed last year but I had to make a little separate area for them where I incorporated lots of sand and made sure the soil was fine. If your soil is compacted or clumpy they will fork. So , I decided this year I will grow carrots in pots/ containers. We don't really need big carrots to store over winter, I prefer the small ones I can grate in salads. To be honest , the last year hardly any made it to the table ��

[GreaterMarrow]

Can somebody clarify what kind of sand to mix into the soil? I've got clay soil and my father-in-law told me I'd never get any carrots growing in it :-(

If I do mix sand in, will the bed be useless for other crops next season?

Thanks.

[Kristen]

Sharp Sand / Horticultural Sand (rather than Soft / Builder sand). It will improve the drainage generally, so will be fine for other crops. I've tried lots of bags [of sand] in one spot and it all seemed to disappear into the clay "instantly" which was a bit depressing! I have 4 beds in my veg patch, for a 4 year crop rotation, and I grow the Carrots at one end - same end every year - so the sand I add is always in the same place, and after 4, 8, 12 years the soil gets gradually more sandy.

I now make a V-shaped groove, the depth of the carrots I want to grow, and fill it with a mix of Sand and old Potting compost (left over from things I grew last year) to make a "trench" of really fine soil for the Carrots to grow in. I also don't fret too much about misshapen Carrots. I get annoyed if they are shaped like a glove, as they are hard to peel, but they all taste the same ...

[GreaterMarrow]

Thanks Kristen, that really helps I kinda like the idea of unusual shapes etc as I'm sure my daughter will find it most amusing!

[Scoot]

Thanks for all the replies. Well, I have mistakenly started some of in small seed trays but it sounds like they will be no good so I plan on starting some more off. I will basically do what I was told on here to do with my parsnips. Sow some of them directly into the soil but make a cone shaped hole filled with compost and also I will start some off in loo role tubes/newspaper. Will the tap root be able to push the bit of paper I turned up and inside my newspaper tubes? And also, what do you use to stop all the soil falling out the bottom of the loo role tubes as there's nothing to turn up inside like there is with the newspaper tubes.

When will be the best time to start my carrots off in these tubes? As I assume it'll not take long for the tap root to be heading out of the bottom of these tubes but I don't want to be putting them out to early in case of frost but will have no choice if the tap root starts to make an appearance out the bottom.

[sparrow100]

I'd rip the bottoms off the paper pots when you plant out. I find the compost holds together in the loo rolls so it doesn't fall out, but then I use them mainly for sweetcorn and not for root crops.

I tried the compost-filled trench last year for parsnips and it worked well.

[brownfingers]

When I tried the bog roll method, it wasnt a great success. I allowed the tap root to get to the bottom of the bog roll before planting out. By then it was too late and the tap root didn't continue straight down. It's suprising how quickly a tap root gets to the bottom of a bog roll.

[Scoot]

That's what I was thinking too. If I plant them now in the bog roles, they'll be coming out the bottom soon enough but I still won't be able to plant into my garden due to frost. I live in the hills of Co. Durham, just outside of Newcastle and frosts still happen here sometimes well into May.

Also last year I planted some straight into the soil and after a few weeks of growing, they all just seemed to die. Baffled me.

[SkyChild]

Might try filling a deep container with toilet rolls and then compost&sand and sowing into them. They are mostly to guide the wee lad in where to put compost and seeds, as at the moment his "digging for the carrots" is a sort of shallow hole affair and he'd gladly scatter the whole packet of seeds into one tiny area.

[Snow]

what about sowing into large kitchen roll tubes?

[Scoot]

Definitely going to try the loo role tubes/newspaper rolled tubes with my carrots this year.

[21up]

put them in tape like big mally
they must work cos T&*and DT br**ns sell them
and apart from that BIG MALLY dont lie???

[libbyloulou]

I buy the commercial carrot seed off fleabay, pelleted so they are quite large, enough to plant individually so no waste, no thinning means no carrot fly. (yet.).

[Kristen]

no thinning means no carrot fly. (yet.).

No carrot fly means there aren't any/many in your area ... yet !!

Moles Seeds sell pelleted carrot seed £1.90 / 1,000

Carrot F1 Artemis (pelleted) - Moles Seeds - Moles Seeds

Less choice of variety pelleted though, although they do sell Sweet Candle pelleted - not at that price though!

[Alison]

Definitely going to try the loo role tubes/newspaper rolled tubes with my carrots this year.

I take it you don't grow too many carrots or are just going to use this method for a few as it would be very time consuming for a staple crop. I usually grow about 30' of carrots to see us through the winter and the thought of that number of loo rolls is making me feel a bit queasy