Carrots

Hi there chums. Last year my carrots germinated well, hardly any gaps. This year however, I have lots of gaps. Can anyone say why this might be ? I haven't done anything differently, and I've even resown, still gaps. Has anyone else had the same problem ?
Cheers...freddy.

 

Seed drills dried out? Worth watering along-the-drills I reckon.

I'm growing mine in containers this year for a change. Heavy clay (only had a good manuring starting this year, so it's going to be 4 or 5 years before I have converted it into something I can be more proud of!) and too much hit & miss for me, so I've resorted to trying to start everything in "pots" this year.

Root crops won't transplant, so I have done Parsnips etc. in newspaper pots and planted out "whole". I did some carrots (20 maybe?) like that, but its a bit of a high-invest for low-return!!

So I'm growing some 12" diameter pots with carrots at about 1" spacing instead. (Using old compost from last years Tomatoes etc. mixed with about 1/3rd sharp sand [by volumn])

 

I plant my carrots in wide rows (a block of scattered seeds) so I really don't end up with gaps that are bigger than I'd need. Since we started to grow our peas, carrots, swedes, beets in wide rows gardening has become much less labour intensive. Wish I had started that years ago.

However to answer your question.....my carrots have not germinated yet. I only planted them 3 days ago so I may have to change the statement above before this springs garden is rolling well. I think carrots are a little like parsnips and you need fresh seed?

 

Hi Freddy

Carrots can be a bit finicky about germinating. They're the only crop that, on a few occasions, I've had to completely re- sow. This year, my germinaton is pretty good with a new F1 type I haven't used before called Nelson.

It is possible to transplant carrots but you have to be veeeeery careful. I use two trowels and lift out a small plug of soil + seedlings from a dense patch of seedlings and plop them into a gap where I've already dug a small hole to exactly match the plug. Water the whole area well before you begin and then water them again afterwards to settle them in.

It's worth a shot, especially if you're going to have to thin the denser parts of a row anyway.

 

Hi chums. I should probably have added that the seed IS fresh. The only ones that seem to be doing ok are Flakee (giant flak). I have actually bought some more seed, which I'll probably sow this weekend. I hate all this messing about though, filling in gaps. Space is at a premium for me, so there's nowhere else I can sow them, all the beds are taken.
I' pretty sure I kept them watered Kristen, and I always water directly after sowing, besides, the bed was already in good condition for sowing. So I doubt it's a water thingy. Ah well, you win some, you lose some I guess.
Cheers...freddy.

 

Freddy, you are better off watering before sowning. When you take out the drill dribble some water along the length of the row. That way you`ve watered the seed WITHOUT compcting the soil. This is true for any drill sown seed.:gnthb: