Carrots

tumbledown Posted at 07:22 on Sun, 08/06/2008

Tags:

Growing vegetables

Intro

Intro picture:

Intro:

If you choose the right varieties, you can harvest carrots from mid-May to the following March. They store well during winter and come in all shapes, colours and sizes.

You might find it hard getting perfectly shaped ones, but they'll taste far nicer than shop bought ones

Location and soil

Type of soil:

Carrots like a well-drained and fertile soil. If you want to sow long-rooted carrots you'll need a rich, sandy soil that can be deeply cultivated to at least one spade's depth.

If your soil is shallow, or heavy clay or stony, then go for round or stump-rooted varieties.

Location:

Carrots all need open, sunny sites

Sowing seeds

Seed picture:

Sowing seeds:

Late April is the best time to start sowing - seeds will germinate more quickly if the soil is warm, especially if you've covered it with polythene for a few weeks.

Early varieties should be sown about mid-spring, and for a regular supply, sow every three or four weeks until late summer.

Sow sparingly so you don't have to thin later on - if you do need to thin, then do it at night, so the smell of the crushed foliage doesn't attract carrot root fly.

Looking after the crop

General care:

Water in dry weather and weed frequently. Thin out when the seedlings are about an inch in height

Harvesting the crop

Harvesting:

Carrots are ready for harvesting when the foliage begins to die down but baby carrots can be harvested before this. Use a fork to loosen the soil and then pull up out of the ground

Varieties

Variety description:

Adelaide, an early crop with stump-ended roots

Variety description:

Flyaway, a maincrop variety with stump-ended roots and a good natural resistance to carrot fly

Variety description:

Maestro: a blunt, uniform carrot, popular with organic gardeners

Variety description:

Parmex, a round-rooted carrot which is ideral for shallow soils and growing in containers

Pests

Pest or disease:

The main pest is carrot fly. The large, black fly lays its eggs in loose soil at the top of the carrot. The eggs hatch into yellow maggots which cause serious damage.

Thankyou!

Blingblongx Posted at 06:03 on Tue, 10/07/2008

Thanks for puttign this up!! It ahs been sooooo useful cos I'm still not exactly great at grwoing things and all these places are using technical terms but I reallly understood wta u rote. thanks again!

carrot fly

orchid Posted at 20:27 on Thu, 10/23/2008

hi,thanx 4 ur write up on growing carrots,u mentioned carrot fly being a problem,but how do i prevent it?

carrot fly

june Posted at 14:15 on Fri, 10/24/2008

To help prevent carrot fly sow sparsley so as to avoid thining because when they are disdurbed the carrot fly can smell them and then flys in to lay its eggs.
Also a 2ft high barrier of clear polythene will stop them as they can't fly any higher then that.

carrot fly

algynon Posted at 09:57 on Sun, 11/09/2008

I've read it somewhere that spraying carrots on a regular basis with home made nettle tea is a good cheap remedy for keeping carrot fly at bay I am definitely going to try it this season
Something to bear in mind that I do know carrot fly can overwinter in the soil.

thanks for the info ,this is

deathwish Posted at 11:26 on Wed, 06/23/2010

thanks for the info ,this is my first year having an allotment and i am finding it great fun and very theraputic, a member of my site told me the best way to grow carrots is in a raised bed and in sand is this right, thanks.

Carrots

greenman Posted at 11:53 on Fri, 07/30/2010

Apparently Carrot fly doesn't fly above about 18" so a raised bed of about 2ft should suffice. This year I've used fine netting (off ebay for about 20 quid for 50m x 4m) and this seems to have worked. Also carrot fly are attracted by the scent of carrots and are only active during two periods of the year, so avoid disturbing the carrots (thinning) during these periods and also plant some high scented crop such as parsley or coriander close by, Coffee grounds sprinkled about the bed are supposed to work as well but I'm yet to try this one!

carrots

Philip Davis Posted at 15:40 on Sat, 10/30/2010

This year i grew flyaway and Autumn King.Covered with enviromesh but crop badly damadged by cutworm.I thought it was "mice" but at a garden club meeting in the week the speaker said it was cutworm .Any comments or advice.

Carrots

4bFieldHouse Posted at 21:02 on Tue, 03/08/2011

We grow some of our carrots in an old bath, which means you can renew with nice soil easily each year and the caroot fly doesn't get at it!! When I sow in the ground I usually do alternate rows of carrot and corriander, which not only makes great soup, the smell of the corriander defends the carrots from fly.

Regards
Hayley