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.
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Stephanie
Nice blog! I like your concept. Very creative. Btw, the carrots must be sweet. Satisified? Found your blog through Blotanical. Have a great day!
Abigail
Any idea if this pest is still a problem if the carrots are grown in containers on a table outdoors?
Thanks!
isabel
Hi Abigail,
It shouldn’t be a problem if they are in a container and on a table as they will be too high up for the blighters to reach. Carrot flies are weak fliers, which is why many gardeners erect simple barriers of around 2ft around their crops, as the daft little flies can’t fly any higher.
The carrots in this post were grown in a tub on our balcony, so we didn’t need to protect them at all. You should be absolutely fine: in fact, container/raised-bed-growing is a great thing to do if you want to avoid covering your garden in carrot fly barriers…
Hope that helps!
Abigail
Thanks so much! This is my first time vegetable gardening, and I live in an apartment, so everything is in containers. Plus, I have a one-year-old who likes to dig in the dirt, so I have to put everything on tables out of his reach.
I bought some “Little Finger” Carrots, which are supposed to be small enough for planting in pots. I’m very excited, and soaking up as much information as I can about gardening!
Thanks for a great site!
Kelly Brown
Great post! I’ll subscribe right now wth my feedreader software!
JaneRadriges
Hi, very nice post. I have been wonder’n bout this issue,so thanks for posting
Sue
Just to let you know that the Green lane Allotments site has moved and the page referred to here is now http://ossettweather.com/glallotments.co.uk/carrotfly.html