[SusieB]

Can anybody recommend a good carrot - flavour is very important?  I have several places I can grow them: greenhouse, heavy soil and raised beds.
Many thanks.

[surbie100]

I really like the rainbow mix. The carrots I get are sweet and very crisp. I can usually get 2 crops per year from a 40L tub.

[Middlesexbloke]

We grow a few varieties on the plot but my favourites are the Chantenay ones. Sweet and delicious without growing too long, which on a heavy soil seems to work well.

[Mr Dog]

I'll second the chantenay (although mine were disappointingly small last year) and add nantes and autumn king (for biggies) to the list. I've heard good things about sweet candle from fellow plot holders so will be trying a few of those this year. All will be grown in tubs, old baths and water tanks.

I grew some purple haze last year and have to say they tasted disgusting - very, very bitter. Don't think it was the growing conditions as they were in the same bath as some autumn kings which tasted fine.

I've also found the rainbow mixes to be very variable depending on year/source.

[moose]

I usually grow an early Nantes, Chantenay and Autumn King. I share buying these as pelleted seed from Moles as you get a lot of seed but they are so much easier to sow than ordinary. I did try a yellow type but no one really liked them.

[Mr Dog]

I usually grow an early Nantes, Chantenay and Autumn King. I share buying these as pelleted seed from Moles as you get a lot of seed but they are so much easier to sow than ordinary. I did try a yellow type but no one really liked them.

You can get pelleted carrot seeds quite cheaply (eg autumn king: 150 for 99p, 300 for £1.44 or 500 for £1.74) from the 'bay.

[GrannieAnnie]

I'm trying rainbow mix this year for the first time, but I do like the royal chantenays, especially when they are young and smaller.  I like the little round ones for growing in heavier soil and pots that aren't very deep, but also Nantes and Autumn King.

I use Premier Seeds on Ebay (they do amazon as well now, but the P&P is a little dearer, whereas with Ebay, I bouth 5 packets and got free P&P)

[mjg000]

I am into my 5th year of trying to perfect the small young carrots that my father-in-law used to bring us from his allotment.  Didn't pay much attention at the time but the memory of those carrots has stayed with the whole family for forty years!  I will be trying the Chantenay and the sweet candle as suggested in earlier comments.

[Kristen]

Can anybody recommend a good carrot - flavour is very important

The one the show growers grow for flavour is Sweet Candle.  I think it has good flavour too, but flavour is subjective!  I suggest growing a few of each of several varieties and having a taste test to see which you, and family/friends, like the most.

Compared to supermarket, particularly washed and cut "batons", any home grown freshly harvested carrot [variety] will probably taste a million times better

[Snoop]

Compared to supermarket, particularly washed and cut "batons", any home grown freshly harvested carrot [variety] will probably taste a million times better

Seconded!

I've gone a bit overboard on carrots this year and am trying far too many varieties because I couldn't keep up with demand last year. The upshot is, fewer parsnips this year and an awful lot more carrots.

Paris Market were quite quick to grow (by carrot standards) and were easier to grate. Good for heavy soils as well. Chantenay would also be good for heavier soils, as would another we liked, Rouge de Sang (I got them from Thomas Etty). Quite short but very sweet and a beautiful red blush to the skin, so very pretty when scrubbed rather than peeled. And an oddity was Spanish Black. Not so much black as a very dark purple with a much paler centre. Quite a few of the ones I sowed went woody straight away (probably sowed them too close together so they didn't develop properly), but those that made it had a delicious coconutty flavour.

[DD.]

I usually grow an early Nantes, Chantenay and Autumn King. I share buying these as pelleted seed from Moles as you get a lot of seed but they are so much easier to sow than ordinary. I did try a yellow type but no one really liked them.

You can get pelleted carrot seeds quite cheaply (eg autumn king: 150 for 99p, 300 for £1.44 or 500 for £1.74) from the 'bay.

That's expensive! Moles seeds are 2,500 for £2.40.

[Mr Dog]

I usually grow an early Nantes, Chantenay and Autumn King. I share buying these as pelleted seed from Moles as you get a lot of seed but they are so much easier to sow than ordinary. I did try a yellow type but no one really liked them.

You can get pelleted carrot seeds quite cheaply (eg autumn king: 150 for 99p, 300 for £1.44 or 500 for £1.74) from the 'bay.

That's expensive! Moles seeds are 2,500 for £2.40.

You've forgotten the p&p charges (£2.75 the last time I looked at Moles) on top of that price and whilst they still would be cheaper per seed (0.206p v 0.35-0.66p), I (and I'm sure many others) don't want, or need, that many seeds. 2500 would be 10+ years supply for me and I don't want to either be storing seed or commiting to growing a particular variety for that long.

Of course if there's a number of you grouping together that's probably the way to go.

[Kristen]

I thought Moles shipped seed (except heavy items, like Beans and Green manure) free?

Spare seeds can go in the Seed Parcel

[DD.]

Subject to a minimum order, indeed P & P is free on lightweight seeds. As mentioned good for sharing!

[moose]

[/quote]That's expensive! Moles seeds are 2,500 for £2.40.

You've forgotten the p&p charges (£2.75 the last time I looked at Moles) on top of that price and whilst they still would be cheaper per seed (0.206p v 0.35-0.66p), I (and I'm sure many others) don't want, or need, that many seeds. 2500 would be 10+ years supply for me and I don't want to either be storing seed or commiting to growing a particular variety for that long.

Of course if there's a number of you grouping together that's probably the way to go.
[/quote]


5 of us sharing=500 seeds each. no need for long term storing.