For years I've tried to get a decent crop of carrots with extremely minimal success, not entirely unrelated to the fact that I have no patience whatsoever. This year I had a huge pile of turf underlay left over and an empty bathtub just crying out to be put to good use so I gave it one more go. Unfortunately rabbits are partial to carrots as we know so physical barriers were required - not very attractive I know.
Carrots don't like overly fertile soil and it is often suggested to grow them after a greedier crop so that they are forced to grow downward looking for nutrients. I figured that 80/20 sand soil mix was just what the carrots needed to get them searching.
I put a bag of blue metal in the bottom for drainage and then some home made compost for the carrots to search for and then all the sandy soil on top. The first crop fell prey to slugs and snails so I raided Hubby's beer supply, buried a few traps and threw down some more seed. Once the carrot seedlings were a reasonable size they seemed to be less attractive to the marauders even without me refilling the traps.
They grew pretty slowly over the winter, no doubt due to the lack of sunshine and excess of rain we have endured this year but finally I had some sweet little baby carrots to slice into my salads and pasta dishes.
Being a woman of very little (no) patience, none of them got to be huge but I still consider the experiment to be a resounding success. I'm not sure whether to throw more carrot seeds in there or try something else, I think I may be more suited to crops such as lettuce which don't require months of waiting.
8 comments:
I also have little previous success with carrots, but put it down to not keeping them moist, nothign at all to do with my lack of patience or attention!! This year I'd had a few carrots go OK, but only now just taking off in Spring... am thinking I might get about 8 carrots all up!! Oh well, I have loads of kale, rocket and stuff that thrives on neglect!
I am very proud of my carrot growing method. Took me decades to get carrots sussed. Now I don't grow a huge amount of them, but I grow them reliably year round. (Unless the bower birds get in, in which case they peck the tops off every single one, and peck into the exposed top of the carrot...grrr).
Yes I agree with Linda, its like compost once you've got it your fine.
I cover mine with an old beer carton (they are not fussy a mid or heavy brew will do ;-) ) And water the cardboard well.
As soon as the green shoot start to show, off comes the cardboard and I keep it moist for the first few days.
Congrats on your harvest though. Store ones will never taste teh same again!
I think I must have fairly good carrot growning soil where I grow my carrots as all I do is throw the seeds in and water when I remember and they grow fine. But they do grow sooooo slow!
Thanks everyone, I emptied out the bath and added more stones for drainage, it was a bit soggy in the bottom. I will now put some zucchini in there for the summer and try the carrots again over winter.
Linda, I also brought a banana leaf home from the beach house to have a go at making pots.
They look great! I haven't had much success in the past either, at best our last lot could be called baby carrots :) I haven't tried this year as I like to see things happening a little more quickly too, and they tie up a lot of room for a long time (although the bath idea is great!)
when i put the seeds in i usually put potato sacks over them till they start to come up, but even then they are small but sweet. finger Xed this year i will have better luck in my new veggie yard
I had my first carrot success this spring bit they were tiny cos I needed the garden space!! Kids loved the baby carrots...so did the bunny!
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