Growing Carrots - BBC Dig In Campaign

The BBC are campaigning to get everyone growing their own, which has to be good, and have produced this short video guide on sowing carrots..

When you start growing your own vegetables it can all seem awfully complicated but honestly it really is quite simple. Personally I would never start beetroot off in a pot, they're so easy to grow straight in the ground. Despite having written 2 books on the subject, if I'm honest, my best advice is to always read the back of the seed packets before you sow!

Of course, the books go into a bit more detail! Vegetable Growing Month by Month and
The Essential Allotment Guide

Key Facts On Growing Carrots

• Not all carrots are orange - you can get white carrots, yellow carrots and even purple carrots! The purple carrot Healthmaster contains a third more beta-carotene than normal carrots.
• The biggest pest of carrots is the carrot fly. You can keep the fly away by covering the crop with fleece but now you can also grow carrot fly resistant varieties.
• In heavy or stony soils go for short rooted varieties like Early Nantes or Amsterdam Forcing for best results.
• Early varieties of carrots are mature at 12 weeks after germination but maincrop varieties take about 16 weeks to be ready.
• Maincrop varieties can be stored in dry sand or peat in the shed for months but early varieties are best frozen.
• There's a list of carrot varieties in the allotment shop. Carrot Seed The best varieties for home growing have the RHS Award of Garden Merit and are listed here: Carrots with AGM
• Carrots can easily be grown in deep containers as well as in the soil. The show growers use barrels filled with special compost to produce 6 feet long specimens for show.

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