Farming Friends & TopVeg have collaborated to create some FREE How To Grow Vegetables Cards, including this How to Grow Carrots card.
If you would like a pdf of this carrot card or any of the How to Grow cards, please complete the contact form asking for the grow card you would like and we will email it to you.
Ros has sent a cry for help:
How can we grow carrots without the dreaded pests. Think it’s carrot fly, but not sure. For two years now we have had to cut a lot of (holes & black marks) away to be able to eat what’s left.
We only grow in one 3m x 3m raised bed.
TopVeg replied:
It is tragic to loose your carrots to pests – our sympathies.
It does sound like carrot fly.
damage-carrot-rootfly
There are 3 things you can do to protect your carrots grown in raised beds:
1. grow varieties resistant to carrot fly- such as
2. Raise the sides of your beds to over 2 foot - Carrot fly travel close to the ground, and a barrier 2 foot high will interrupt their flight path, forcing the fly to take another route. If carrots are planted in a container at least 2 foot off the ground, the carrot flies will just zoom past the side of the container, and not bother the carrots growing inside.
3. Cover the beds with enviromesh which will keep the flies out. This has transformed our carrot growing & would be easy to do with your beds.
Hope that helps!
Sweetheart carrots have yielded well in the vegetable garden & not succumbed to carrot fly after all this time.
sweetheart-carrots
The carrots in the photo had been kept in the ground and pulled on New Year’s Day.
Sweetheart carrots are:
SweetheartCarrots
Many vegetables grown in the garden are good for the health of eyes, when eaten.
Carrots help you see in the dark . Beta-carotene gives carrots their yellow colour. It forms Vitamin A, which is an antioxidant.
everlasting-brocoli
Leafy green vegetables are very good for eyes, too. They contain lutein & Vitamin E which are antioxidants. Lutein protects the retina from sunlight.
Leafy green vegetables are the best veg in the garden in February. Examples are kale, spinach, cabbage and sprouting broccoli.
There are 3 types of sprouting broccoli:
* white
sprouting-brocoli-white
* purple
* perpetual
The white broccoli has small white flowering tips.
These are snapped off when about 2″ long.
sprouting-broccoli-spear
Steamed or boil them for 10-15 minutes for a very special veg.
Ours are about ready to harvest from February through to April.
whitesprouting-brocoli
The purple sprouters are a week or so later, & have a stronger taste.
The perpetual broccoli comes up year after year, so rather messes the rotation up. But it is easy to grow.
Beans are also important for eye health. Beans contain zinc, which is an essential element for healthy eyes.
carrot-fly-resistant
Carrot Fly Free varieties of carrot are available to grow in the Vegetable Garden. Three examples of carrot fly varieties are:
* Resistafly – mid to late season use
* Flyaway – early
* Early Nantes – suitable for early sowing under glass
Growing carrot fly resistant varieties is a great example of biological control – a method used in organic vegetable production.
Reasons why carrots do split:
* A lot of water after a dry period
* irregular watering
* heavy rain after drought
* very rapid growth
cracked-carrot
split carrot
Harvest carrots as soon as they are large enough to use. Pull a few up
to see how big they are. If the carrots are left in the ground to
mature, the leaves will start to die off, but mature carrots will not
taste as good as younger ones.
bunch-of-carrots
To harvest carrots:
* use a fork to loosen the soil at the side of the carrot – making
sure it does not touch the carrot
* hold on to the carrot foliage and pull
Do not wash carrots before putting them into store
It is possible to harvest fresh carrots nearly all year round by regularly sowing suitable varieties.
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