carrots

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rowlandwells

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carrots
« on: September 10, 2020, 08:37 »
i have to say I'm not the best at growing carrots we didn't grow any carrots this season although the wife had good results 2years ago when she sowed carrots in a raised bed

because our ground is stony carrots never seem to grow well in the open ground but could there be light at the end of the tunnel because when i was reading a seed catalogue that came the other day it said short rooted carrot varieties like Early Nantes and Chantenay could be grown in this type of ground?

so before i decide to buy and grow these varieties i though why not ask our members if this would be worth trying  :unsure:

edit for search purposes
« Last Edit: September 10, 2020, 09:17 by mumofstig »

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JayG

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Re: carrots
« Reply #1 on: September 10, 2020, 09:27 »
My soil is pretty stony, and being a shorter variety, Chantenay produce fewer deformed carrots than longer ones.

Probably a better choice than Nantes, which is considerably longer IIRC.
Sow your seeds, plant your plants. What's the difference? A couple of weeks or more when answering possible queries!

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Kleftiwallah

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Re: carrots
« Reply #2 on: September 10, 2020, 09:35 »
Why not try ramming a pole (metal or wood) into the ground, waggling it around and filling the hole with good soil and planting the seeds in the resultant cone of stone free soil?

Cheers,  Tony.
I may be growing OLD, but I refuse to grow UP !

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Mr Dog

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Re: carrots
« Reply #3 on: September 10, 2020, 14:59 »
Paris Market would probably also be a decent choice - they're short rooted and rounder in shape.

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8doubles

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Re: carrots
« Reply #4 on: September 10, 2020, 16:19 »
Stick with the raised beds or planters , last years tom compost with 30% sand or use just sieved garden soil .
You do not need a very large raised bed.
Sow the entire surface and it will come up solid carrots but with such density you need to keep on top of the watering.
I use Early Nantes and get tasty finger size carrots much nicer than the 'Horse carrots'. :)

I consider myself a reasonably good grower but never had real success  planting in good ground with bare patches and complete no row shows.
The garden can then be used for stuff that wants to grow there . ;)

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CHRISDONOHUE

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Re: carrots
« Reply #5 on: September 13, 2020, 01:21 »
It seems to me that the solution to growing carrots in stony ground is to remove the stones, which will come out fairly easily if you dig to a spit's depth and pick them out.   Then rake the soil very well and pick out any on the surface.    One of the best gardeners at my allotment has a plot next to mine and has masses and masses of stones and still gets very good crops.   I just think that I would rather remove the stones now than rake them backwards and forwards for the next few years.   But it is of course a personal decision for each gardener to make according to preference.   Stones in my view not only cause forked roots in root crops but also inhibit germination.   The number of stones in each plot is finite and you don't have to win the war in a single season.   It is a lot easier than removing weeds which are far more prevalent and take much more of a gardener's time.   I have a huge pile of stones at the back of my allotment and, in contrast to the previous tenant who put his large stones along the path at the back over some 10 metres, I prefer mine in a single large pile.   I am gradually transferring his large stones to my pile: it will take me some time but the task is still finite.   Getting weeds out of a stony path is unnecessarily difficult and labour-intensive.

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Christine

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Re: carrots
« Reply #6 on: September 13, 2020, 07:39 »
We have hedges round 98% of the allotments on our site. Carrot root fly will happily overwinter in the hedges and come out to play at the first sign of carrots. So it's in tubs under environment mesh for me.

Also if you leave a mountain of stones in corners for the next tenant it will make the plot hard to let after you retire.

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Thrutchington

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Re: carrots
« Reply #7 on: September 15, 2020, 19:43 »
Why not try ramming a pole (metal or wood) into the ground, waggling it around and filling the hole with good soil and planting the seeds in the resultant cone of stone free soil?

Cheers,  Tony.

How about getting a fork, shovel and riddle and working the soil to remove the stones entirely?

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Yorkie

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Re: carrots
« Reply #8 on: September 16, 2020, 13:34 »
How about getting a fork, shovel and riddle and working the soil to remove the stones entirely?

Ah, I love getting to recite my O Level Geography on 'frost heave'  :lol:

You'll never get rid of the stones entirely.  Over the winter, water between soil particles freezes, thus expanding.  The expansion pushes stones upwards.  When the thaw comes, smaller soil particles backfill this expanded space, so that the stones don't fall back downwards. 

Rinse and repeat.  There will always be more stones moving sideways and upwards as a result of frost heave  :)
I try to take one day at a time, but sometimes several days all attack me at once...

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CHRISDONOHUE

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Re: carrots
« Reply #9 on: October 03, 2020, 01:33 »
Just to clarify, my huge pile of stones takes up less space than a normal compost bin and is outside the normal growing area.   Those who love stones in their allotment and find my pile a problem can very easily incorporate them back in the growing area if they so desire in very little time.   Whether the stones come up from below each year or not, stone phobics will still want to remove them.   My parsnip roots were uniform for about 6" down, but affected by stones at 7-9".   If stones from 7-9" come further up automatically, all to the good.

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Yorkie

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Re: carrots
« Reply #10 on: October 03, 2020, 12:49 »
Yes, I realise that, Chris.  There was no need to be facetious.

My point was that if you aim to remove them entirely in one fell swoop, then you'll be disappointed because it's like painting the Forth Bridge!  Others on the site may not have realised that.



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