Growing and Storing Carrots
We’ve just finished protecting our dahlia tubers for winter using straw and this year we’ve decided to try a couple of ways of using straw to protect our carrots for winter.
Most of our carrots have been grown under fleece or fine mesh to protect them from carrot fly and its worked well.
Slugs have nibbled at some of our carrots but have left plenty of precious carrot for us to enjoy through the winter.
Our first method has been to simple cut off the carrot tops a couple of inches above the soil, protect the roots with straw and replace the fleece to stop the straw from blowing away in the winter gales.
This was quick and simple to do.
Our second method involved making a straw clamp with our carrots hopefully tucked up warm and snug inside for the winter months.
A few canes, some chicken wire to hold the straw in place and the job was done.
Carrots tops were removed and the carrots placed in the clamp in several layers.
Some straw was placed on top of each layer with an old compost bag placed on top to keep of some of the wet weather.
We thought we remembered reading somewhere that if carrots were sown in July they would not suffer attack from carrot fly.
Always looking for a challenge we sowed some early carrots (Early Nantes) in July.
We planted our carrots in large drills filled with multi-purpose compost. We have found that carrot seed along with many other seeds do not grow well if sown directly into our heavy clay soil. We started using this method when years ago now as new plot holders we were told by the experienced tenants, “You’ll never grow carrots on this site!” As there is nothing to beat the taste of home grown carrots we were determined to prove them wrong!
Our July sown carrots germinated well and have produced some reasonable looking roots.
We’ve simply pushed some straw up against the roots and are hoping that it’s not blown away in the wind.
These may be the carrots to use up first this winter.
By the way can anyone answer this query. I have read that carrot fly only fly about 50 cm off the ground. If so how do they manage to travel as far as they do without coming across a barrier of some sort?
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Enviromesh is a fine mesh net designed to protect vegetable and soft fruit crops from a range of insect pests, birds, rabbits and the weather. It will protect against -cabbage root fly, carrot fly, cabbage white butterfly, pea moth, cutworm, cabbage whitefly, leaf miners and many species of aphids. Flea beetle is discouraged by Enviromesh, but it may not give complete control. In situations where flea beetle is a serious problem, it may be preferable to use Agralan Ultra-fine
