[morse]

I am interested in growing carrots this year but failed to find how to grow them on the main site (which is otherwise very extensive !). I would like to know  the time of year to sow and harvest, how to harvest and sow them and how to care for them. advice or a point in the right direction would be great! Many thanks!

 

[JimG]

Well, after last year I'm no-one to give advice but I'll be planting mine in some bins above the carrot fly's maximum altitude!

[bayleaf]

Your situation is important - carrot fly is more likely on an allotment than in a small veg patch in a garden - according to a book I've got by Arthur J Symons called The New Vegetable Grower's Handbook ( Symons was the technical adviser of the Dig for Victory campaign during World War II). I grew Nantes early as a variety last year, planting them in early May in a bed that did have some direct sun but was also partly shaded by a high fence and a hedge. They were under my homemade poly tunnels for 6-7 weeks to start with as I live in a northerly area. They did really well and I had no probs with carrot fly, but I have a veg plot on my garden and all the other gardens around me are shrubs and flowers so I think this helped. I also picked them as bunches of smaller carrots and did not let them reach full maturity. To quote Symons:
"This pest is most likely to be met with in large gardens, on allotments, and in districts where lots of carrots are grown year after year. Where a small crop is grown in a private garden here and there it may never be met with at all."
He goes on to say: "The first step in keeping off the carrot fly is to keep down weeds and as far as practicable deprive it of its spring hiding-places. We have seen already that the disturbance of the soil when thinning is favourable to the operations of the carrot fly. You should therefore not only make the soil firm after thinning, but also water copiously in order to consolidate the earth around the remaining roots. Never thin carrots if the soil is dry. To do so would lead to the breaking of foliage and roots during thinning and the carroty odour is bound to attract a carrot fly or two."
He adds: "Growing onions alongside is said to deter the carrot fly which is confused by the stronger onion smell. Carrot fly is rare in organic gardens. Possibly, with so many odours arising from the garden compost used in such gardens, the smell from the carrot bed is too weak to attract it."
Hope this helps - I'm trying F1 Eskimo this year as a variety for carrots hoping to leave them in from October and just pulling them when needed. Has anyone out there tried this variety before and if so how did you get on?

[morse]

Thanks for the quick replies. I will certainly take the carrot fly into account but i should be ok as all my planting is on organic land in a private garden.

Any tips on actually planting the carrots, when to plant, time to harvest ect.

Many thanks!

[Aidy]

A varity I now grow all the time is Parmex, love these little round carrots, they grow pretty quick and you can time them to miss the main fly activity. Also if you use a barrier like enviromesh if growing rows this will pretty much keep the fly off.
Edit: sow now, direct in the ground, never transplant them they dont like it and thin as needed, if you grow the Parmex you can grow these in containers, grow bags pretty much anywhere.

[gobs]

Just to argue with Mr Symons, I'm the only one growing carrots on our site and we are ridden with carrot fly, hence nobody else has been growing them for donkeys' years.

Morse, you get - to simplify - early and maincrop carrots, earlies - like nantes, chanteney or amsterdam types - can be sown very early, like mine is growing away now and as they are fast, successionally through the season. Maincrops - like Autumn king types - are slower to mature, so stillsown early, nowish, or next month maybe and are good storers.