Allotment Gardening Advice Help Chat

Growing => Grow Your Own => Topic started by: spudlover on February 27, 2013, 23:08

Title: growing carrots in pots and raise bed
Post by: spudlover on February 27, 2013, 23:08: am think of growing carrots in large pots and a raise bed on my allotment. i got soil for the pots. can i put chicken pellets in the pots or will it be to rich for them or should i put growmore a week befor i sow them in the pots and the raise bed.paul
Title: Re: growing carrots in pots and raise bed
Post by: BabbyAnn on February 28, 2013, 10:07: the chicken pellets will probably be too rich for carrots - some compost/growmore might be better
Title: Re: growing carrots in pots and raise bed
Post by: Ivor Backache on February 28, 2013, 12:13: I now grow all my carrots in pots (30) and sow main crop starting in May.
In the meantime I will grow early potatoes (I have 10 just breaking though in the conservatory) I half fill with garden compost and add poultry pellets. As I empty the potatoes I refill the pots without any further fertiliser, and sow about 15 seeds to the pot. (I use the black 'cut flower' supermarket pots) Using a hand spray keep the surface moist until germination occurrs. Thin out if needed. I then take the pots to the allotment and place along the paths and cover with mesh.
The point is that there is enough nutrient after growing potatoes to grow the carrots. I did experiment once and added chicken manure. I had amazing tops and stumpy carrots.
Title: Re: growing carrots in pots and raise bed
Post by: Willow_Warren on February 28, 2013, 13:42: Quote from: Ivor Backache on February 28, 2013, 12:13
I had amazing tops and stumpy carrots.
I should perhaps take note, but bunny would be overjoyed with this type of carrot :D

Hannah :)
Title: Re: growing carrots in pots and raise bed
Post by: JaK on February 28, 2013, 15:00: Carrots grow really well in pots, you don't really need to feed them at all, the compost will be enough as they are usually ready to pull up and use 12 or so weeks after sowing. :)
Title: Re: growing carrots in pots and raise bed
Post by: spudlover on March 01, 2013, 00:08: thanks guys i grow them befor in pots and i done well with them i will leave the chicken pelleted out. thank again paul
Title: Re: growing carrots in pots and raise bed
Post by: Kirpi on March 01, 2013, 07:40: I grow mine in upturned compost daleks - filled with any old soil for ballast and then the last twelve inches is shop bought compost and sharp sand. worked well last year and keeps them high up enough to avoid carrot fly. No extra nutrients and did fine.
Title: Re: growing carrots in pots and raise bed
Post by: hubballi on March 01, 2013, 08:50: Don't bother with carrots. I have never had success with them in 5 years of growing in ideal conditions. Last year I sowed some in a small , sandy compost container with healthy tops but tiny roots.
Title: Re: growing carrots in pots and raise bed
Post by: DD. on March 01, 2013, 09:03: Can't be ideal conditions then, can they?
Title: Re: growing carrots in pots and raise bed
Post by: digger1 on March 01, 2013, 09:05: I have found growing Stump Rooted or Round (Paris Market) carrots they grow well in pots or troughs
Title: Re: growing carrots in pots and raise bed
Post by: hubballi on March 01, 2013, 09:09: Quote from: DD. on March 01, 2013, 09:03
Can't be ideal conditions then, can they?

I did everything correctly.
Title: Re: growing carrots in pots and raise bed
Post by: JayG on March 01, 2013, 09:21: Don't make the mistake of thinking that because manuring before growing parsnips and carrots can increase the chances of forking, that they will grow well with no nutrients at all - the lighter and sandier your growing medium the more likely you are to need to give additional feeding - not too much nitrogen though (BFB or Growmore would be better choices than pelleted chicken manure, for example.)

(My soil is sandy and it took a few years for the penny to drop as to why my parsnips were the opposite of being like an iceberg!)

Hubballi - you can't be doing everything correctly, even if you are not currently aware of what you are doing wrong! ;)
Title: Re: growing carrots in pots and raise bed
Post by: aelf on March 01, 2013, 14:22: I grow mine in a big wooden box raised about 3 feet off the ground and filled (over the years) with spent compost from plants raised in pots in the greenhouse. I've done it this way for about three years now and it works well. I have, this year, put a sprinkling of chicken pellets down and covered them with about 4 inches of spent compost as I think the soil must be exhausted by now.
Title: Re: growing carrots in pots and raise bed
Post by: samnorfolk on March 02, 2013, 01:12: i have got a raised bed 1 metre square about a foot or so high that has been filled with a mixture of well rotted horse muck, some topsoil and shop brought compost. What woudl be the best type of carrot to grow??
Title: Re: growing carrots in pots and raise bed
Post by: Totty on March 02, 2013, 09:16: Carrots go right at the end of a four year rotation. So the ground would have been manured previously two years before, but would have had BFB and compost added in the last two years.
So Ideal conditions in my eyes would be manured well a couple of years back, a couple of crops grown in this ground since, and plenty of compost added. Carrots won't get fat in sandy poor soil.

Totty
Title: Re: growing carrots in pots and raise bed
Post by: samnorfolk on March 02, 2013, 14:01: So how do you start off carrots if its new beds etc?? or do you have to wait a couple of years before trying to grow them
Title: Re: growing carrots in pots and raise bed
Post by: DD. on March 02, 2013, 15:31: You identify which bed(s) you're going to grow your root veg in and prepare them accordingly - without a load of manure. They don't need a lot in the way of nutrients.
Title: Re: growing carrots in pots and raise bed
Post by: samnorfolk on March 03, 2013, 01:09: Im going to have a bed for carrots and one for parsnips so you think it is best to not manure these ones at all just fill with topsoil and compost??