Growing perfect, imperfect carrots in soil

Watch youtube and you'd think that the only way to grow carrots is in containers or specially built frames. That's often the case, but if you have lovely sandy soil like I do you can grow great carrots in the soil. They might be a bit imperfect in the eyes of a super-market perfect, but to my eyes and taste buds they are perfect.

I do however think containers have a place, even if you have sandy soil, they are great for the period from about February/March - May.

If you are new to my allotment videos you might find a bit of context useful. We live in the north west of England, in Lytham St Annes, which I believe is the equivalent of USA Zone 8. Fairly mild, but very windy.

We have three allotments in my family, mine (Steve), my wife's (Debbie) and my middle daughter's (Jennie). We also have a small kitchen garden at home. They are all managed in an integrated fashion, so don't expect to see the usual mix of veg on each plot. I do most of the planning and seed starting. We each have our own plots, but we all help each other out.

Jennie's plot has been designed as a traditional allotment, but we put a lot of focus on minimising the work we do there. It's basically a plant and forget it plot, full of garlic, leeks, onions, beetroot, brassicas, squash, beans and fruit trees. It's heavily mulched to reduce weeds and to reduce the need water.

Debbie's plot is mostly full of perennials, it's an ornemental plot. Again we did a lot of work to keep the weeds down and Debbie's approach is inspired by the TV programme The Ornamental Kitchen garden.

My plot is all about experimental growing, maximum productivity and year round abundance. As with all of the other plots I did a lot of work to control the weeds, but it's a high maintenance plot. I'm always planting, harvesting, experimenting and generally having a great time.

Collectively the plots deliver an amazing abundance of fruit and veg all year round. Debbie, Jennie, Jon and I are effectively self sufficient in veg all year round and in fruit for much of the year. During winter we sometimes have enough surplus to feed our local family. During the rest of the year when the surplus from our house garden comes on stream we have surpluses in some crops for quite a few friends as well.

This video provides an overview:


I do an update of the allotments, roughly twice a month, you can find the tours here:


Our approach to allotment life is to: grow as much as we possibly can, to be self-sufficient in veg all year round and in fruit in season, to give away our surplus to friends and family, and to have as much fun as possible. For more on self sufficiency check out these videos:


We are not slaves to gardening though, I spend about 14 hours a week on the plots (on average) Debbie and Jennie a lot less. We keep nudging that down as we eliminate non-productive work: like grass cutting, weeding and watering as much as practical. We are both newbie gardeners, only starting the allotments in 2016.

I'm a bit obsessive about the nutrient density of the veg that we grow and making the plots easy to work because it's through this allotment lifestyle and food that I've overcome a debilitating auto-immune disease.

I'm always aware though that it might not last so I make sure that I don't work too hard, eat as much organic fruit and veg I can and design the plots so that I can still work them when I flare up.

[kosmosjk]

Hi Steve, great catch up on where your plot is at the moment. The sweetcorn in the polytunnel is huge! Your outdoor ones look to be at much the same stage as mine, the tassels are up on some and I even have cobs with silks out on a couple! Those carrot seeds look interesting, the ones I sowed a while ago (in all the heat) are doing well, I have had a few young carrots to eat as thinings - very sweet tasting. Hope you are all keeping well :-)

[bevsartsandcrafts]

We are trying a few ways with carrots to see what works best. We’ve got some in a raised bed where i sieved the soil to get rid of the stones. We are also growing in a bath, see how they do. We’ve got some in raised planters in sandy compost and some in buckets. 👍🏻

[markshaw]

Great video. I always struggle with carrots lol

[rhubarbrhubarb]

Love your videos really informative.. thanks

[ronaldandsusanshaws-growing]

Good luck with those carrots, I think I'm done with sowing anymore this year I'm hoping that what I have got sown will be okay for the rest of this year, , I don't have room to keep beds full of them, Those seeds look good on the ground, Stay safe and take care, p.s. those courgette seeds have not shown anything as yet.

[OurEnglishTropicalGarden]

Fabulous content keep up the good work and stay connected! like 4 ...

[hannahbayne]

Sweetcorn in Polly! I've never heard of doing that! Our allotment site is surrounded by badger sets and I've been warned not to bother growing sweetcorn as regardless of security measures they destroy the entire allotment site in one night! So, my question is; Is it worth growing sweetcorn in the polytunnel? When would you sow? Sow direct in the poly beds or in containers in the poly? I've noticed you've not mentioned sweetcorn in recent videos so wondered if it didn't work well or maybe you are just able to grow outside in the ground. We don't eat lots of it but it would be nice to have some. Thanks Steve

[DragonCotterill]

No sign yet of tassels on our sweetcorn. Don't really expect any until mid-July really.
As for carrots, we've never grown a straight one yet. We have London Clay which means the soil is very thick and heavy. I've tried adding sand to make it a little lighter, but no matter what we've done over the years we end up with forked carrots. Whether it's the soil. Too much food/nutrition in the beds or what. Either way they taste great. They just look like a clawed hand from a Hammer Horror film.