For those of us not gardening in Verdun's balmy southwest, to get an early sowing in you can put cloches over the seedbed for a couple of weeks to warm the soil before sowing
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
Still perfecting, but one tip I have picked up latterly is not to fertilise the soil richly or the carrots can be stunted with lots of hairy side shoots - keep the soil relativley low in nutrients and the tap root will go deeper looking for them and you should end up with longer smoother carrots.
As already mentioned a fine tilth prevents them forking around lumps and stones.
I like Autumn King which are obviously a late cropper, but not had much luck with Nantes so will be looking for a different early carrot this year. People tell me Nantes are nice and sweet, mine always seem to be tough and bland.
Keep your eye on the weather to make sure they don't dry out - working in a metal building with no windows I can easily lose track of how hot/dry/wet/cold the weather is so have started experimenting with drip waterers connected to a hose timer - last summer was so wet and windy that I really have no idea if it helped on not.
I grow mine in the sacks of MPC that I've grown spuds in after I've harvested in June/ July, I just add some organic potato feed, just because that is what I usually have left over, and they seem fine as long as they don't dry out. I grow a variety of an F1 Chantenay, not long but small and plump and very
I do well with carrots, even in the local show. I grow them in raised beds, so the soil remains loose and pretty well stone-free.
I rarely water them or feed them. I thin them out as needed, and use good quality fleece to keep out the carrot fly. Any variety always tastes good compared to supermarket carrots. The ordinary Nantes ones, or Chantenay, are fine. Autumn King don't taste very good until later in the season, when carrot fly are more likely to have found them. Long thin varieties such as Tendersweet can be very difficult to harvest, so I prefer a stumpier variety.
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For those of us not gardening in Verdun's balmy southwest, to get an early sowing in you can put cloches over the seedbed for a couple of weeks to warm the soil before sowing
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
Carrots are my favourite.
Still perfecting, but one tip I have picked up latterly is not to fertilise the soil richly or the carrots can be stunted with lots of hairy side shoots - keep the soil relativley low in nutrients and the tap root will go deeper looking for them and you should end up with longer smoother carrots.
As already mentioned a fine tilth prevents them forking around lumps and stones.
I like Autumn King which are obviously a late cropper, but not had much luck with Nantes so will be looking for a different early carrot this year. People tell me Nantes are nice and sweet, mine always seem to be tough and bland.
Keep your eye on the weather to make sure they don't dry out - working in a metal building with no windows I can easily lose track of how hot/dry/wet/cold the weather is so have started experimenting with drip waterers connected to a hose timer - last summer was so wet and windy that I really have no idea if it helped on not.
A question for the experts - when watering my carrots by watering can, the leaves get wet and fall to the ground, any tips for avoiding that?
I grow mine in the sacks of MPC that I've grown spuds in after I've harvested in June/ July, I just add some organic potato feed, just because that is what I usually have left over, and they seem fine as long as they don't dry out. I grow a variety of an F1 Chantenay, not long but small and plump and very
ihave a load of fine net curtains in shed. if i cover my bed with this will do the same job as enviromesh. cheers WRINKLY1
I do well with carrots, even in the local show. I grow them in raised beds, so the soil remains loose and pretty well stone-free.
I rarely water them or feed them. I thin them out as needed, and use good quality fleece to keep out the carrot fly. Any variety always tastes good compared to supermarket carrots. The ordinary Nantes ones, or Chantenay, are fine. Autumn King don't taste very good until later in the season, when carrot fly are more likely to have found them. Long thin varieties such as Tendersweet can be very difficult to harvest, so I prefer a stumpier variety.