So carrots and super high green tops ?

muckyhandsmike · October 2023

I grew carrots in wooden planters again this year. Generally they were very good but I did have some which had very high green tops and shallow, thin roots that looked like parsnips - they were also woody.
I suspect that my soil was a bit rich leading to the giant green tops. So should I forget the growmore next year or the autumn manure ? Any thoughts or suggestions ?

muckyhandsmike · October 2023

Forgot to say that they had flowered whilst I was away on holiday.

Fairygirl · October 2023

Carrots really don't like rich soil - better to plant them in soil that's had nothing added if it's in reasonably good condition.
Adding a bit of rotted manure at this time of year would usually do no harm as it would be absorbed and mixed in well enough by the time you add the carrots, but I wouldn't be adding anything else.
The growmore will have encouraged green growth at the expense of the carrots themselves. If they flowered, that won't have helped either.
I only ever grow the min containers, and I use the compost from the previous year's annuals for them. Nothing else.

muckyhandsmike · October 2023

thanks fg … I thought the growmore was too much. I’ve decided on next years planting already so I don’t add too much to the carrot planter by mistake ! I’m trying to rotate the crops annually in each planter.

Fairygirl · October 2023

It's always a learning curve isn't it? I don't grow a lot of veg, mainly salad crops, but any carrots I've grown have always been done with minimal food, in the way I described.
I don't have room in the ground for veg beds anyway, so most is done in containers.
It's certainly a good idea to number or name your beds in some way, so that it makes it easier to remember what's gone where in previous years!

Whiterot · October 2023

I grow 6 full rows of Sugarsnak carrots under netting each year. In the early part of the season I may give them just one feed of maxi crop to give them a bit of a boost but nothing else and we have excellent crops. In fact this last week I have given 5 buckets away to friends and relatives. The main thing with carrots is not to set too early when the soil temperature is not warm enough for germination and water them in dry conditions. Growmore would be a bit too rich for them.

muckyhandsmike · October 2023

Fairygirl said:

It's always a learning curve isn't it? I don't grow a lot of veg, mainly salad crops, but any carrots I've grown have always been done with minimal food, in the way I described.
I don't have room in the ground for veg beds anyway, so most is done in containers.
It's certainly a good idea to number or name your beds in some way, so that it makes it easier to remember what's gone where in previous years!

I have mine all listed each on a spreadsheet so the memory thing isn’t a problem !
I add “results comments” etc which keeps my family highly amused but they all like eating the veg 😁

Fairygirl · October 2023

muckyhandsmike said:

Fairygirl said: it makes it easier to remember what's gone where in previous years!

I have mine all listed each on a spreadsheet so the memory thing isn’t a problem !
I add “results comments” etc which keeps my family highly amused but they all like eating the veg 😁

So carrots and super high green tops ?

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