Growing carrots :smile:

Freshly picked carrots are sweet and tender. There's a variety to suit every type of soil, and they can even be grown in containers. Plant seed from January onwards for crops throughout summer and early autumn.

There are dozens of different carrot varieties, usually described as early or maincrop varieties, but also described as either short-root or long-root varieties. These names indicate when they crop and also give you an idea of the type of soil that they are suitable for. Carrots grow best in light, sandy soil. If your soil is heavy clay, stony, chalky or doesn’t drain particularly well, you should concentrate on the maincrop, short-root types as they will cope better with these conditions.

Early carrot varieties take around 12 weeks to mature and maincrop carrot varieties are ready in around 16 weeks. Maincrops take up the most space in the garden, but they tend to be the best varieties to grow if you want some for storage. You can use the same techniques for parsnips, but they need to be in the ground for longer. Early parsnip varieties take around 32 weeks to mature and maincrop varieties are ready in 34 weeks.
Carrot varieties to try

* 'Autumn King 2'
* 'Flyaway'
* 'Mignon'
* 'Nantes 3 Tip Top'
* 'Parmex'

Success with root vegetables is very much down to the quality of the soil they are grown in, so it’s worth taking the time to prepare your patch. Root vegetables grow best in a sunny spot that has light, fertile, sandy soil, free from stones. So start digging over your soil in late winter or early spring, removing any stones you find and thoroughly turning the soil until it has a fine, crumbly texture.

When digging over your soil, do not add manure as this makes the soil too rich for the seeds. To ensure the ground fertility, rake in a light dressing of general fertiliser one week before sowing your seeds. If your soil is not ideally suitable for carrots or parsnips, you can prepare a large container for sowing instead.

Carrot and parsnip seeds are small, but it’s wise to plant them as thinly as possible. This reduces the amount of thinning necessary and potential risk from pests. If you have difficulty sowing thinly, try mixing the seeds with a handful of sharp sand and then sowing the seeds and sand together. The sand will aid drainage and will allow thinner sowing.

Once the seeds have germinated and are showing their first rough leaves, thin the seedlings to 5cm (2in) between plants. As parsnips grow to a larger eventual size than carrots, these seedlings should be thinned to 15cm (6in). The plants need little other attention during their growth period, although the plants should be kept well watered – too little water results in coarse, woody roots

From June-July onwards, start pulling up your carrots as soon as they are big enough to eat. It’s best to harvest them in the evening to avoid attracting carrot fly. Late-sown carrots must be lifted by October to be stored over the winter. Store only the best, undamaged roots, cutting off their foliage and lie the roots between layers of sand in a strong box, ensuring that the roots do not touch. Store the box somewhere cool and dry, and check the carrots occasionally, removing any odd rotten roots before they infect their neighbours.

As parsnips need longer to mature, they will be ready to harvest in October, once their foliage begins to die off. Lift the roots as you need them, and lift any remaining roots by mid- November. Any excess roots can be stored in the same way as carrots.

One of the main threats to your carrot crop comes from carrot fly. This pest is drawn to the carrots by the smell of crushed foliage, so reduce the risk of an attack by thinning plants in the evening on a still day, removing any thinnings and watering afterwards. Carrot fly also is a low-flying insect: erecting a ‘wind-break’ shield around a crop will also help deter this pest.

Sweet baby carrots are my favourite.

Me too, though I must admit to liking virtually all kinds of veg.