On Thursday night I had David Thornton (top bloke!) give a talk at our horticultural society on growing long and stump carrots for show. Here is his 'mix' for growing long carrots which I thought looked rather sparse on nutrients compared to the mixes I've used in the past. Perhaps that's where I've been going wrong? As Dave is a top National grower I shall be giving his mix a go this season.
45L sieved compost
15L vermiculite
10L sieved coarse sand
6oz Vitax Q4
3oz Ground Lime(stone)
3oz Seaweed meal (not calcified)
+ insecticide
This mix needs to be ready for use by the 1st week in April when the long carrots traditionally need sowing. One thing Dave was adamant about is that he only waters during the germination stage to make sure the top surface of the sand in the drums doesn't dry out. Once the seedlings are growing away he doesn't give them any more water apart from that which drops out of the sky. You really do want your long carrots to go down in search of moisture and the should be plenty of thaT
7 comments:
I tend to use a weak mix due to the fact my carrots are always heavy with poor skin condition if i don't.
Does David cover his carrots at all when at a mature stage?. "apart from that which drops out of the sky" so i prosume he doesn't or that means water at the base of the drum.
Ive always grown mine in a polytunnel but this year they are going outside in 6ft pipes with an enviromesh cage to stop the wind. I'm wondering if i should use a cover or let god decide, any thoughts?.
I will also test this mixture on a few pipes and see if i get any results.
I agree with you on that.....I do tend to get a few specimens with rough skin so it could well be the answer.
All Dave's roots are grown outside. After he sows them he waters them well and then he does cover the individual stations with small pieces of glass so that they retain moisture but you need to remove these once they have germinated. He (and I) water them for another week or two until the seedlings are growing strongly....after that he says he really does leave them to it with a foliar feed incorporated into his insecticide spraying regime which is every 3 or 4 weeks.
I'm not sure if he uses enviromesh.....I think he lets his foliage grow its natural course. Too much cossetting can make the foliage lush and therefore weak I feel.
Ok thank you, i will try without covers and see what happens. Im just a tad worried about heavy rain. I use the enviromesh around the outside of the structure on poles just to stop the heavy winds we have. Last year my parsnips and shallots all suffered from wind damage so im hoping i can avoid it this year with barriers of mesh.
The concern over heavy rain is a real one.....especially as Ian Currie in Garden News the amateur (but seemingly very accurate) weather forecaster is predicting a similar year to 2007 (bloody great eh? LOL) I had some huge carrots around the shoulder but they didn't carry their weight far down and looked a liitle weird. I can only assume the silly amount of rain we had in July meant they stop going down in search of moisture.
I guess you could cover them but hopefully last year really was a one off....wasn't it?
Ok there going in the polytunnel, sod the English weather we can't grow anything under 3 foot of water.
I think i will still plant some outside and build a cover that i can remove incase we get heavy rain.
I could put the pipes on some wheels so i can cart them about under cover lol.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU, HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU, HAPPY BIRTHDAY DEAR DAD! HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU!!!
Hi Simon
caught up with your blog and as usual it's brill.
I look forward to the coming year and it's great to be back and thankyou for your message on my blog.
I'm hoping the weather will be a bit better than last year, fingers crossed as I'm hoping to be at the plot a lot more.
All the best to you
Debbie (The Blue Gate Allotment)
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