Hoorah. The first carrots from the Garden from Scratch. I sowed these Autumn King II in September as an experiment to see if they would make it through the winter. Which they did. They have been growing in a deep container on the balcony, which gets the most sun in the garden, interplanted with rocket and coriander, both of which continued to crop quite happily through frosts and several inches of snow.

Carrots are very easy to harvest, providing the soil is not too damp and heavy. Simply ease them out with a fork, and they’ll happily come to greet you. We ate ours raw with supper and they tasted incredible.

If you’re growing carrots this year, you should be constructing your defences against the evil carrot fly. The carrot fly forecast is warning that the next two weeks will see the peak of carrot fly activity, and as these pests can devastate a crop, it’s time to act. These nasty little flies feed on a number of relatives of the carrot, which means that even if you have never grown vegetables in your garden before, you’ll need to take precautions if you want to be chomping on some sweet orange roots this year.

Yesterday Susan from Green Lane Allotments shared her method of preventing carrot fly with us, and really, this sort of barrier is the only way you can be sure to avoid an attack. We have constructed our own cloche in the Garden from Scratch, and although it looks like a giant jellyfish washed up over vegetable patch, it will prevent the blighters from reaching the vegetables. As carrot flies are very weak fliers, a fleece barrier higher than 24cm will stop them in their tracks, but just in case, we’re covering our bed completely. 

You can also interplant carrots with onions and garlic, which we have done, and some gardeners claim white or purple carrots are less popular snacks for the carrot fly. But really, covering the crop is the best method. And tucking the carrots up means the seedlings can thrive without threat from frost or heavy rains. It might not be the gorgeous look you were dreaming of for your potager, but for the next few weeks, that’s just not important.