Carrots

[sandy10]

In the past i have tried growing carrots but no luck, so this year i planted them in deeper troughs but again they weren't very long . where am I going wrong?

[melv16]

Your soil is probably too heavy. Try mixing some grit sand with it next year.

[Ratty2E]

Presumably you have chosen the right type of carrot to grow long, they do like a free sandy soil with no fertiliser in it or they can grow 'hairy' or get extra 'limbs'.

[TonyV]

Sandy your soil is not deep enough for the carrots to "grow" try double digging this winter or raised bed

https://www.rhs.org.uk/advice/profile?PID=133

[CluckyChick]

Carrots are fussy, and they do indeed prefer sandy soil. However is it really worth the trouble of altering your soil just for carrots? Potatoes, leeks, runner beans,courgettes and many others will all grow in soil that will not produce a single carrot. Raised beds filled with free-draining compost will work, but if you are going to that much trouble it would be better to use a raised bed for an expensive crop like asparagus, since carrots are cheap and readily available.

[Tilly2]

Carrots are really cheap. Buy them.

[hammerman]

Try growing Chantennay carrots in tubs or troughs. If possible, keep them off the ground by a couple of feet to prevent carrot fly laying their eggs.
Grow them in multipurpose compost and when it comes to thinning them out, don't remove too many as they grow well in small clumps.

TILLY2......most things are cheaper in the supermarket. If everyone had your attitude, kids would think all fruit and veg come from Tesco. Try eating a carrot from your garden and a carrot from the supermarket....the difference is amaizing.

[Tilly2]

I don't have an attitude, Hammerman. I was merely pointing out an alternative if Sandy is having so much trouble.

I grow my own lettuce. :-)

[Chipchopper]

Sow the fine seeds very thinly, this will save on thinning out the seedlings too much as they come through.
If the soil is a heavy clay type or stony. the carrots can be stunted or misshapen, therefore its wise to grow them in a light, sandy growing medium.
Carrot fly seem to like to keep low to the ground, so yes its a good idea to grow them higher up, off the ground in troughs.
Nothing like a good carrot that's homegrown, the flavor is superb!

[diddlydo]

Once you've eaten home-grown carrots you'll never eat a shop-bought one ever again. The latter are completely devoid of decent carrot taste. It doesn't matter a jot whether home-grown ones are short, long, knobbly - they all taste great!

[melv16]

I've grown them on my allotment in an old fibre glass bath as the soil it too heavy. Economically, it wasn't worth it after buying the sand and the compost, but the taste was excellent.
I tend to grow crops that are expensive or difficult to find in the shops. Lots of soft fruit, asparagus, purple sprouting broccoli. I also start off early spuds on my poly tunnel, this year they tasted excellent.

[alavahalf]

Having had a battle growing carrots over the past 5 years .. I decided this was my final attempt at getting a good reault. This year I made a raised bed to go on top of a raised bed in my polytunnel. The idea was to fill the double raised bed with sharp sand. This was then soaked before I drove a 3" pipe into the sand and extracted a plug of sand. The hole that was left went down 20". This was then filled with a special compost and 3 carrot seeds placed on top of each 'sleeve' of compost.
All the seeds germinated and the weakest 2 on each were nipped out. Over the next few months I couldn' resist pulling the odd one out to eat. Every one was perfectly straight and unblemished. Each one was longer than the previouly pulled carrot and as time went by I resisted and left them alone to grow to what I hoped would be prize winners.
At about 130 days after planting I decided to lift the last 20 which by this time were at least 3" across at ground level. Expecting to have the best carrots ever I caught hold of the first one and with no resistance I nearly ended up on the other side of my tunnel and was left holding a carrot that's body was 3" wide and 2" long ... the whole carrot which should have been 15" long had teeth marks all over the stump. All 20 carrots were exactly the same, every one was eaten away completely apart from the short stumpy head. When I rhen started to dismantle the raised beds I was surrounded by the best fed mice you have ever seen.
At least someone had a bit of pleasure from my efforts.
The end result is I have learnt a lesson .. grow your carrots in containers filled with sand and compost .. preferably off the ground.

[Tilly2]

Hammerman, don't be rude. I posted a jocular answer and don't expect to be castigated for that.

[melv16]

Lettuce spray that Tilly doesn't catch up with hammerman:-)

[ken1505]

yes