[Caddi fuller-teabags]

Hi

We grew some carrots in a container - probably 10" deep - in a compost.  They looked great - really bushy and lovely.  We ran a finger around the top and they were about an inch across so it seemed it was time to pull them.

What a disappointment - twisted, stumpy tiny things - more like spirals than straight carrots.   Two or possibly two and a half inches long in total.  The taste fine, but there is just enough in our whole crop for two very small servings by the time we have cut off what we can actually clean.

Any ideas what we did wrong?

Caddi

[arugula]

If they're twisted, I'd suggest they are fighting their way through stony soil... unless you've moved them in which case, they're likely to end up an odd shape. 

[Benandbill]

We've pulled our first ever carrots up recently and they're exactly as you describe.  We have very stony soil as our plot is near a river, but I wouldn't swap them for long straight boring looking carrots.  Like yours, ours taste delicious, and the only disappointment is the size of them as they don't go a long way.  I'm going to compensate for this next year by growing loads of them.  If your soil's not so stony, they might've gone like that because you've manured the ground.  They  need to grow down to feed so if you manure them there's no reason for them to grow down.  Same with watering them too much - so I'm told anyway!

[Salmo]

As they were in compost I would say it is something to do with watering. If the compost is not watered right through the roots will not progress beyond the damp area.