Growing root vegetables

I have decided to grow my root veg in pots this year.

I am fed up with poor yields, due the quality of my soil.

I thought that if I grew them in quite big pots filled with compost, I would get
a better crop.

Any suggestions and hints please.

 

No hints or tips liliana, sorry.

But, I am going to have a go at growing carrots in 2ltr pop bottles this year. Plus I have a variety of carrot which is supposed to be good in pots, so I'll sow those this year too.

 

I tried carrots last year in a 56l tub and had very poor results. So this year I am putting dwarf beans and runners in the tubs and carrots in the raised beds.

Rusty

 

Thought about improving your soil?

I've grown some impressive carrots and parsnips this year and I garden on London clay, I use raised beds and I've also added loads of organic matter to the open beds up the allotment with promising results.

 

That's very interesting. I've never grown parsnips, and only grown carrots once with poor results, but to be fair I did just give the seeds to my son to throw down and see what happens.

All the books say that carrots and parsnips don't like lots of organic matter in the ground, yet you say it worked for you, and my dad always gets a good crop despite routinely adding horse manure to the ground whenever he can get it (he knows a chap that brings it by the trailer load).

 

As well as the carrots I grow in the main garden I also grow some stump rooted ones as an early crop in pots in my polytunnel.

 

I have a lot of stoney soil, as is not my own property, I do not want to change too much.

 

If you don't want to add loads of organic material you could try dibbling holes and filling with either sieved soil or bought compost and then sowing three or four seeds at each station and reducing the seedlings down to one as they develop.

 

Which would make "Mum's" reply ideal
Cut the tops off 2Ltr drink bottles and plant the bottles in the garden filled up with quality compost/sand remember to put some carrot seeds in the drink bottles though
:-)

Jack McH

 

And Mum's technique would be great, if the bottles were secured to the wall/fence/shed roof/other normally neglected space. Just an idea.

 

I would never suggest manuring root veg beds prior to sowing but sowing on a manured bed that had been used by a previous crop is recommended.
Adding "spent" compost to a poor heavy soil will improve it.

 

I think the only problem is if it is fresh manure? And even then the problem is one of the roots forking, so more of a nuisance (i.e. peeling etc) than a disaster crop-wise.

My beds are really well fed, with manure and compost, but I don't put any manure on the bed for Parsnips / Carrots the Winter before, but they still have plenty from previous years.

I grow Carrots in pots (about 12" diameter) using a 50:50 mixture of used multi purpose compost and sharp/horticultural sand. I also grow Spuds in bags, but only to get some very early - the yield is nothing like as good as those grown in the open ground. I wouldn't try parsnips in containers, they need a lot of depth and I think the stress would cause them to bolt to seed rather than fatten up their roots (depends how big the container is of course ...).

As others have said I would recommend improving your soil rather than switching to containers. If it is not your property and you don't want to spend much money on soil improvers then maybe get a compost bin, which you could take with you, and make as much of your own compost as you can? You neighbours may be happy to give you their vegetable peelings etc. perhaps even the weeds and prunings etc from their gardens. Particualrly if it saves them a trip to the local dump?