Allotment Gardening Advice Help Chat

Growing => Grow Your Own => Topic started by: Sideways on June 29, 2009, 09:50

Title: Carrots -RIP.
Post by: Sideways on June 29, 2009, 09:50
I have lost all my carrots to root fly, I noticed the leafy tops had stared turning brown/copper coloured and had begun to wilt. I pulled a few up and snapped them in half, they were riddled with tiny white maggots. The carrots had grown to around 2~3 inches in length.

I have sown a new batch of seeds in a new bed, there should be time to get a few late carrots.

Everything else is doing wonderfully, I've even got a good show of Parsnips!

Anyone got a good turnip soup recipe? My turnips are doing incredibly well and need to be pulled before they get too big.
Title: Re: Carrots -RIP.
Post by: Yorkie on June 29, 2009, 18:13
If you click the recipe link near the top of the page, on the right you'll see an index of fruit and veg - turnips are near the bottom and there are some recipes there.
Title: Re: Carrots -RIP.
Post by: Trillium on June 29, 2009, 19:41
Sideways, did you put up any protection against the carrot fly? Most UKrs do or you'll get no crops.
Title: Re: Carrots -RIP.
Post by: BobandJack on June 29, 2009, 19:56
No soup recipes but I do have a very nice & easy Kashmiri turnip & red beans recipe, just as well as my turnips are doing very well too  :D
Title: Re: Carrots -RIP.
Post by: Highfield on June 29, 2009, 21:54
And it isnt in the recipe section!   I got about 5 kg in the freezer already and loads more to come - please put in the recipes - it sounds lovely and I am running out of ideas fast!
Title: Re: Carrots -RIP.
Post by: BobandJack on June 30, 2009, 05:02
OK it's in the recipe section now  ::)
Title: Re: Carrots -RIP.
Post by: matron on June 30, 2009, 06:26
Oh no, bad luck Sideways. We grow ours in tubs which we stand well off the ground. Dual purpose as a) our ground is too stoney for carrots and b) it protects from the dreaded fly.
Title: Re: Carrots -RIP.
Post by: Sideways on June 30, 2009, 09:23
Sideways, did you put up any protection against the carrot fly? Most UKrs do or you'll get no crops.

No, I just let them get on with it. I will chalk this up as a beginner s mistake and be a little more prepared next year. All in all, I’m very happy with the way things are growing, I have had several approving nods from the established plot holders with comments along the lines of - 'You're doing well for a newbie, young'un...'  ;)

I think I have found the best use for turnips, tried this last night with a couple of big ones-
Peel and cut into chips, toss in a bowl with some oil and salt, lie on a backing tray and stick in the oven, cook the same as oven chips. Perfect with a dollop of ketchup. Next I will try different coatings, Cajun, Curry etc.   8)
Title: Re: Carrots -RIP.
Post by: Highfield on June 30, 2009, 17:54
OK it's in the recipe section now  ::)

Thank you!!!   -ummm where exactly please? Searched the turnip ones and the members ones ... 
Title: Re: Carrots -RIP.
Post by: Yorkie on June 30, 2009, 18:20
There's also a forum called cooking storing and preserving - the recipe has been posted in there  :D
Title: Re: Carrots -RIP.
Post by: AndyRVTR on June 30, 2009, 19:25
Your'e not the only one Sideways... I've just lost a raised bed full of carrots too... I was really careful with them, sown in toilet roll tubes in the greenhouse, then planted out so no danger of thinning them out attracting the little devil's... >:(
Problem was, I didnt put any sort of barrier around them thinking that I had taken enough of a precaution....  :(  oh well, I've got quite a lot planted in pots as a backup, so all is not lost for me this year...  :), now... where did I see that debris netting again?? :wub: :wub:
Title: Re: Carrots -RIP.
Post by: bailey on July 01, 2009, 05:23
hope i,m not speaking too soon!!
my carrots are doing brill,, just actually tried one and it was fantatsic, nice and juicy with a good strong flavour,, but i grow mine in old black bins which keeps the carrots of the ground as such so no probs with carrot fly!

wished i could say the same though about my lettuce and beetroot as something seems to be making a big meal of em,, not sure if rabbit or hedgehog or something similar,,
Title: Re: Carrots -RIP.
Post by: Highfield on July 01, 2009, 10:46
There's also a forum called cooking storing and preserving - the recipe has been posted in there  :D

Thank you!!  Guess what is on the menu this weekend ...