[rem858]

i have some green manure seeds to overwinter should i use this on beds intended for carrots next year thanks

[New shoot]

Depends how soon you are going to dig it in.  If carrots hit anything in the soil - stones, lumps of manure or bits of part rotted green manure, they will fork.

[fatcat1955]

Carrots should be grown in 60% sand and 40% soil and do NOT feed. So do not enrich the soil with any kind of manure.

[Muddylou]

I Hope Rem doesn't mind me jumping in on his thread.
I was also planning to grow green manure where I want to plant carrots next year (it's still full of my maincrop spuds at the mo). If this area shouldn't be manured or enriched, would covering with a plastic sheet until next spring be an option? I don't particularly want to leave a bare area over winter.

[solway cropper]

Carrots should be grown in 60% sand and 40% soil and do NOT feed. So do not enrich the soil with any kind of manure.

Carrots can be grown in just about anything as long as it allows the roots to develop. I feed mine and get great roots. There's an awful lot of misinformation out there but I wouldn't recommend applying lots of fresh manure prior to growing carrots.

[fatcat1955]

When growing carrots you are looking to produce a good root (the part you eat) . The poorer in nutrients the soil is the deeper (hence longer) the root becomes. 99% of information on carrots will tell you DO NOT MANURE.

[mumofstig]

The poorer in nutrients the soil is the deeper (hence longer) the root becomes. 99% of information on carrots will tell you DO NOT MANURE.

Carrots like fertile, open free soil that allows their root to develop unhindered. With rotation the soil will have been manured in previous years, rather than just before sowing.

I don't think they are a miracle plant that can grow in soil with no nutrients 

[fatcat1955]

No one said they are a miracle plant that grow without nutrients. You are trying to produce a root NOT topgrowth. If you feed the carrot the root does not need to grow to find nutrients and will produce a very nice green set of leaves. If you do not feed, the root has to travel further to find food and therfore produces a bigger root . If you are growing for topgrowth by all means feed to your hearts content.

[JayG]

There's a world of difference between over-feeding or manuring and starvation!

Manuring is not recommended prior to growing either parsnips or carrots because the roots will fork in the direction of "pockets" of richer soil, but don't take this too far and think they will prosper in very poor soil because they won't (this is from personal experience!)