Carrots......did I dream this?

I always have sown my carrots in little pinches, about 2 or 3 seeds at the final spacing which I want. I still find that if I want decent sized carrots then I need to thin out to a single carrot as I've never really found this spreading out thing works for anything except radish. Am sure that other people will disagree though as I know several people who claims this works for the likes of beetroot etc but I find I just end up with stunted veg. Soil type may make a difference, I'm not sure.

Re the carrots, I tend to still draw a row across and then put the seeds at the spacing I want although I did just make finger holes to fill in some gaps a few years ago when I got poor germination for some reason. I find the only way to definitely avoid carrot fly is to cover for the entirety of the growing season with enviromesh as even if you don't thin out you will be lifting carrots which will have the same effect and I don't think anybody has told the carrot flies that they have a season

Oh and I always water before sowing so as not to wash the seed away to start with, it will then stick to the damp soil and seems to be fine. Pretty much the only watering I ever do is when I either sow or plant out and that's always before I put the seed / plant in.

Thanks for watering advice.
Maybe I'll try just a short row then.....

that's how I do carrots: a pinch of seed every 3 inches. If you left them all to grow to maturity though, you might get a tangled clump, so I thin them by pulling out the biggest to eat, leaving the others to grow on.


but it doesn't fool the carrot fly, who can smell the foliage whether you fondle it or not.

I water the "drills" - draw a shallow V-shaped drill, water that from a can with a spout, sow onto the now-wet soil, and draw back over the (dry) soil from either side of the drill. Hopefully I then don't have to water again until after germination.

Yes, that's exactly what I meant. If I'm planting pot grown plants I dig the hole, fill with water and then puddle in. It's then very rare that I ever water again.

Same for me I grow pretty much everything in 9cm pots. They fit neatly into holes made by my bulb planter, so I make all the holes with the bulb planter, fill with water, knock out the pots and plant them, and then water them in to wash soil into the holes (like leeks). Takes very little time at all, which perhaps compensates for the time raising the plants rather than sowing direct.