My Arch Nemisis Defeated?

For three years now I’ve struggled to grow decent carrots and this year I think I’ve finally cracked it and defeated my arch nemisis of the veg world!

I pulled a few carrots for my local show yesterday and these were the rejects (all sweet candle). The batch on the left are from the standard veg bed where I cored out each hole and filled with a compost mix. From this batch I had 5 carrots good enough to show (not pictured). The middle batch was from a sand filled dustbin and didn’t have the weight or the stump end but the skin condition was really good and they were perfect for the standard carrot class. The batch on the right of the picture were in a second sand filled dustbin but this one was further away at the back of the garden were the hosepipe couldn’t get to so didn’t have any watering regime. Consequently you can see very thin, split carrots from there. I didn’t appreciate until now just how vital watering is to getting a decent carrot. In summary those grown in cored out soil were the best possibly because they drew extra nutrients from the soil around them compared to the ones grown in sand. Perhaps adding more soil to the mix next year will help the sand grown ones. I’ll definitely be growing more stump carrots next year with the aim of entering the New Forest & Hampshire show. I haven’t touched the long carrots growing in the pipes yet as I’m saving them for our mini-show at the NVS Hampshire DA next month. I’m hoping to get a decent set of 3 for the show and get some good feedback from the experts that’ll be attending.

Photos from my local show, including my best ever carrots (and parsnips), will follow soon in the next post. I think I’ve finally cracked it and confident I can grow better carrots next year rather than the usual finger-thick spindly things I’ve grown up to now!