I grow carrots in heavy clay soil with plenty of compost on top in late winter. They are excellent. They sometimes split, but with this rain there's not much I can do. Enviromesh or similar prevents carrot fly, and cats. They do not fork. Forking is due to compost that is too hot ie raw, or stones. You could always grow some conventionally, and try the crowbar trick to get a small number to impress.
If you grow the early types, you can be pulling 'baby' carrots in just a few weeks. I only grow maincrop carrots though which I sow in spring and pull continuously from July until the end of the winter. Carrots are biennials and will flower in their second year - once they start to send up the flower stem (a tall umbellifer) they become tough and inedible.
A trowel in the hand is worth a thousand lost under a bush.
I sow a row or two in early March, any earlier and the soil is too cold. But you can use a coldframe to warm the soil. I did that with some and harvested them early. Clay soil is cold, and a lighter soil will warm sooner. I never really liked carrots until I grew them, love them now.
Main benefits of F1 seeds are uniformity of root size (eg consistently larger), disease resistance, pest resistance and vigour. I mainly grow maincrop carrots and have tried a lot of varieties, Kingston F1 being the best I've found.
A trowel in the hand is worth a thousand lost under a bush.
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I grow carrots in heavy clay soil with plenty of compost on top in late winter. They are excellent. They sometimes split, but with this rain there's not much I can do. Enviromesh or similar prevents carrot fly, and cats. They do not fork. Forking is due to compost that is too hot ie raw, or stones. You could always grow some conventionally, and try the crowbar trick to get a small number to impress.
Thanks. How long do they need in the ground though? Do folks ever leave them in more than a year?
If you grow the early types, you can be pulling 'baby' carrots in just a few weeks. I only grow maincrop carrots though which I sow in spring and pull continuously from July until the end of the winter. Carrots are biennials and will flower in their second year - once they start to send up the flower stem (a tall umbellifer) they become tough and inedible.
They will flower if left a second summer and the root will go woody.
Thanks for the tips. I'll start them a little earlier next year then and pay them more attention. Much appreciated advice as always.
I sow a row or two in early March, any earlier and the soil is too cold. But you can use a coldframe to warm the soil. I did that with some and harvested them early. Clay soil is cold, and a lighter soil will warm sooner. I never really liked carrots until I grew them, love them now.
What do the F1 seed give you that is better?
Main benefits of F1 seeds are uniformity of root size (eg consistently larger), disease resistance, pest resistance and vigour. I mainly grow maincrop carrots and have tried a lot of varieties, Kingston F1 being the best I've found.