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Why can't I grow carrots?

josusa47josusa47 Posts: 3,530
in Fruit & veg
I've tried several times, on Sussex chalk, where I once harvested two carrots the size of my little finger, and now on North Wales limestone, where I can't even get them to germinate.  I use seed that's in date, from the Organic Gardening Catalogue.  I've tried them in the ground and in raised beds and I've tried different varieties.

My fingers are not the greenest, but I have no difficulty growing potatoes, tomatoes, beans and beetroot, so it's not just that I'm a lousy gardener. This year I'm trying something different.  I've sowed seed in two two-litre pots, in coir with added nutrients and some seaweed meal.
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  • ObelixxObelixx Posts: 30,090
    Dunno.  Had the same problem in my Belgian garden where the veggie plot was raised beds and the soil was a mix of clay with loads of alkaline loam and garden compost.   

    I finally had success growing them in pots filled with compost for veggies - no John Innes or Levingtons in Belgium - and had very good germination and plenty of leafage but too late in the season for decent sized carrots to grow.  Then we moved so when I do try again here it will be in pots and near the kitchen for easier watering and watching.
    Vendée - 20kms from Atlantic coast.
    "The price good men (and women) pay for indifference to public affairs is to be ruled by evil men (and women)."
    Plato
  • Pete.8Pete.8 Posts: 11,340
    The best carrots I ever grew were in pots.
    I had some seed, some deep plastic pots and spare MPC the results were the best carrots I've grown - and the pots with a mass of ferny green foliage was very pretty.
    I get ok results with carrots in the soil.
    They seem to do best in soils that are not too heavy.
    If you do try sand, make sure it's sharp sand - builders sand will only make things worse. Grit may be a better option.
    Freshly manured soil will cause the carrots to fork.

    One thing I've never been able to grow is spring onions - I try every year and all I get is something the thickness of a cocktail sick! I've given up

    Billericay - Essex

    Knowledge is knowing that a tomato is a fruit.
    Wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad.
  • ObelixxObelixx Posts: 30,090
    Try them in a window box.  That's how I had the best results.
    Vendée - 20kms from Atlantic coast.
    "The price good men (and women) pay for indifference to public affairs is to be ruled by evil men (and women)."
    Plato
  • FairygirlFairygirl Posts: 55,117
    I've only ever grown them in pots and troughs. Our ground wouldn't be much good, and I don't have room. I'd need a couple of acres for the amount of carrots I eat  ;)
    If they're in bigger pots, I  just use spent compost from other plants in the bottom , with a layer of standard stuff on top. 
    I don't do much to them apart from water if it's dry for a few days. No food.
    It might also depend on the variety Josusa. Try a bog standard one which is seen as bombproof, and see if that helps.  :)
    It's a place where beautiful isn't enough of a word....



    I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
  • Pete.8Pete.8 Posts: 11,340
    Good idea Obelixx - I'll give it a whirl - one last time :)
    Thanks!

    Billericay - Essex

    Knowledge is knowing that a tomato is a fruit.
    Wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad.
  • purplerallimpurplerallim Posts: 5,287
    I used a potato bag last year to grow red spring onions in one and round carrots in the other. As I have never had luck with either bought little plants, they grew well. This year have bought speedo carrot seed (could not find red spring onions seeds anywhere, so hope they will be in the GC as plants) and they have just popped up, so we will see.
  • raisingirlraisingirl Posts: 7,093
    Tricksy things, carrots. Very fussy about soil, about weather and very tasty to lots of passing creatures. A window box or a trough fixed well above mouse and carrot fly height, with perfect soil and some shelter and perfect temperature and watering and you'll do fine. 

    I generally just put in a row of nantes type, more in hope than expectation, and occasionally get a small bunch. They are delicious though, fresh out of the ground, so worth a small punt
    Gardening on the edge of Exmoor, in Devon

    “It's still magic even if you know how it's done.” 
  • josusa47josusa47 Posts: 3,530
    Glad to know it's not just me.  Our soil is on the clayish side, but how do the seeds know that if they don't germinate?  Thanks for all the advice.  Watch this space!
  • wild edgeswild edges Posts: 10,497
    I struggle here too and I think it's down to the seedlings getting eaten. Oddly though a carrot sprang up in a flower bed that I'd enriched with home made compost that must have had old seed in it.
    If you can keep your head, while those around you are losing theirs, you may not have grasped the seriousness of the situation.
  • BobFlannigonBobFlannigon Posts: 619
    josusa - Germination usually fails due to temperature or moisture.  Seeds like the temperature not to drop off too much (ideally staying about 10 degrees centigrade) and to be damp and not too wet (they'll rot) or too dry (nothing will happen).
    If it helps, I grow mine in pots and cover the pot with a bag to keep the moisture in and it does also help regulate the temperature.  Typically I sow them April-May onwards.
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