[al78]

Last February I sowed carrots in my greenhouse raised bed and got a crop from late Spring to mid summer.

This March I sowed carrots in my greenhouse raised bed and they have germinated and are slowly growing.

I have also sowed carrots direct in the soil outdoors the weekend before Easter (near end of March), and sowed some in a raised bed on the community allotment. I made shallow drills, tried to make the soil as crumbly as I could, laid out seed tape, covered it, and because like last year, SE England has stolen someone elses semi-arid climate, I have been watering regularly. Not one single seedling has emerged so far. What am I doing so differently when sowing in the soil compared to sowing in the greenhouse to completely destroy any chance of germination?

[Plot 1 Problems]

I'd say almost certainly it's cool soil temperature. I've not even entertained the thought of direct sowing anything other than French Breakfast Radish so far this year.

[mumofstig]

It may just be that the outside soil is not as warm as the soil in the greenhouse?
We've had some freezing cold nights over the last month or so.
https://www.allotment-garden.org/gardening-information/best-temperatures-for-seed-germination/#:~:text=The%20optimum%20range%20for%20carrots,reasonable%20germination%20rates%20and%20speed.

[AnneB]

Definitely agree about the cold.
As a rule I sow my main outdoor carrot crop in early May.  Trying earlier in the year here in Yorkshire gets poor results.

[Alank]

Its the cold and carrots can be slower than other seeds to germinate.
I grow some for show in raised tall sand boxes these are sown at the end of February as they take longer to form and mature ie grow to a large size and have a true formed stump root.
When sowing carrots outside the rows are prepared then covered with rigid plastic sheets to thoroughly warm the soil. The plastic sheets are a couple of inches above soil level and once the seeds are germinated they are removed to prevent sun scorching.

[al78]

Thanks for the responses. I sowed the carrots outside around the time of the warm spell late March, I didn't expect it to be followed by an April with as many ground and air frosts as many winters here in Sussex. I still have carrot seeds left to sow (I was attempting successive sowing), with another week of chilly nights coming up I guess I am best leaving it a couple of weeks before sowing the rest.

[steven c]

we cleared a strawberry bed [one of our standard 8x4 ] early july last year and sowed with nantes early
carrots they were the best carrots we have grown very good germination and little fly damage  we are going to try sowing early june [they did seem to catch up and overtake with better germination than earlier sown bed]
so i still think plenty of time yet.

[al78]

Don't the main crop varieties like Autumn King need a long growing season?

[mumofstig]

You can sow Autumn King from March until the end of July, so plenty of time for those 

[al78]

Thanks, that's good to know. Maincrop doesn't mean it needs the whole growing season to mature.

[rowlandwells]

I'm glad you mentioned carrots because that's another veg i struggle with like parsnips i thing the ground is not  suitable to many stones so its has to be the bore hole method or a raised bed with deep compost I've gone for pelleted carrot seed because there much easy for sowing trying two varieties this season Eskimo and mercurio
[nates] my wife grew carrots in tubs last year and had lovely carrots

i also think netting carrots is a must but with pelleted seed it should eliminate thinning