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Carrot bed

Rodgy-dodgeRodgy-dodge Posts: 115
in Fruit & veg

Hi I'm new to veg and just preparing an area for growing carrots and parsnips next year on my newly acquired allotment plot. I'm putting in a raised bed as that has been recommended for the carrot fly issues. However the soil level needs raising so I'm going to have to put more in. How would I go about making a good mix as I've also read that they don't want manure digging in! The size of the bed is about 2mtrs square and about 40cm's high and its only half filled at the moment with very loamy soil. All recommendations on growing carrots welcome image

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  • fidgetbonesfidgetbones Posts: 16,538

    Carrots like a sandy soil. No fresh manure. Any stones will make the roots fork. Exhibitors tend to seive their soil before sowing.

  • PalaisglidePalaisglide Posts: 3,414

    I grow my carrots in pots that way I can mix a fine compost with washed sand and lift them onto a bench away from low flying carrot fly. Get some bags of washed sand and some bags of compost mix the two together and add to your raised bed, that should do the trick. You could also sow small carrots which to me taste better and do not need such a deep bed. Good luck.

    Frank.

  • NewBoy2NewBoy2 Posts: 1,813

    get a wooden or metal tube  and stick it into the soil to a depth just longer than you want your carrots to grow

    add a mixture of fine soil and compast and sow 3 seeds in each tube

    The idea is that carrots and parsnips will hit stones or big lumps of clay and bend or split whereas in their tubes they wont

    Surround the area with 2 foot talll of mesh to keep the carrot flies away as they supposedly can only fly at 18inches above the soil 

    If you are using a RB then you dont need the mesh

    Thin them out or sow very carefully to get a good spread

    I tried it last season and not one grew whereas the year before i just chucked them into soil and some grew !!

    The Carrot Battle will annoy you for the whole of your Lottie Career !!

    Councelling is available at The Pub !!

    Everyone is just trying to be Happy.....So lets help Them.
  • Rodgy-dodgeRodgy-dodge Posts: 115

    Thanks Guys, I'm sure next season is going to be a challenge with all matters of the veg growing kind. I have prepared for this with a lovely area that I have seeded with grass to place a bench where I'm sure many sorrows may be drowned with copious amounts of wine.

    Meanwhile I have added about 1/4 of a tone of sand to my bed and the consistency of the soil is looking very fine and powdery at the moment I still think it needs more compost adding to raise the level. I was also thinking of planting my garlic in this bed too.

  • cowslip2cowslip2 Posts: 137

    So very successful with using the previous years runner bean compost as base for carrot bed, topped with JI no 2 compost.

  • MozeyMozey Posts: 5

    Hi all, I'd like to try and grow carrots but a lot of allotmenteers at my sight really don't bother because of this carrot fly. I've just made a small raised bed and kinda want to give it a try. I've read comments and there is quite a bit of prepping. What does anyone think. I am a novice to all this but love it all the same.

     

  • LeifUKLeifUK Posts: 573

    I grew carrots in my stony heavy clay soil last year, they were very good indeed. I didn't get carrot fly. But to protect against them, you could use fleece or fine netting over hoops made from blue water pipe. 

  • Green MagpieGreen Magpie Posts: 806

    I grow good carrots in raised beds. Because the soil stays loose and doesn't get compacted, it suits carrots very well. The beds are only about 45cm deep  - the soil level being lower than this - and this is not high enough to keep off the carrot fly, although it's a good height for most purposes. 

    So I use horticultural fleece. It's not pretty or convenient, but it works. You can use pegs to secure it, but I now find the best way is to lay a length of fleece across the bed,  allowing plenty of spare, and weigh it in place with bricks on the ground outside the bed. That way, as the plants grow, the fleece can be loosened off so that it doesn't squash the leaves. You might need a peg or two to secure it in the middle of the bed and stop the fly getting in the sides.

    Fleece varies in quality and it's worth getting a strong quality that won't get torn apart by wind or rain.  Last year I had no carrot fly at all, although there's usually a bit of damage by the end of the season.

  • MozeyMozey Posts: 5

    Thank you so much for all that advice. I will make soil really good. I have fleece so I just need some sand. Any particular choice in carrots seeds ? 

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