Can carrots jump out of the ground ?

[Ricard with an H]

Of course not, I have never grown carrots, so far it's been a reasonable success and amusing.

Firstly my carrots-lings were introduced into furrows filled with compost, presumably they like the compost so when they grow into the soil they don't like it and turn upwards.

Next funny is, I'm finding carrots that have been pulled out, I know they don't jump. Do they ? A clue might be that my spaniel loves carrot and whilst I caught her eating one I didn't catch her pulling it out.

Since then more carrot has been pulled but she didn't eat them possibly because it wasn't her that pulled them.

What do you think ? No holes in the carrot that birds might make, or maybe I just didn't give them enough time.

Most-definately amusing up the this point.

[vegpatchmum]

Lol - that certainly made me chuckle.

How big are the 'jumping' carrots? If they are still small, it could well be mischievious birds. I kid you not, the late Mrs Blackbird would oftne hop around my beds tugging stuff out of her way to reach a particularly juicy grub/worm. If it happened to be a small carrot, leek, sweetcorn then tough - these were her feeding grounds and everything was fair game

You see if it were rabbits, for example, you would not expect to find much of the actual carrot left, would you? Well I wouldn't

VPM
x

P.S. Just remembered that the black lab of one of the neighbours dug up and ate ALL her carrots, so maybe pooch is the guilty party

[Ricard with an H]

You see if it were rabbits, for example, you would not expect to find much of the actual carrot left, would you? Well I wouldn't

:

We haven't got rabbits, the carrots are between three inches and six inches but bendy/mishapen and not normal carrot-shaped. Because the carrot is in compost it does pull out easily. So it's blackbirds or my dog.

At least I don't have any bugs eating them, carrot fly ? Not yet. I'm right on the coast here but 150 metres above sea-level and it's usually breezy.

[Ricard with an H]

And I just realised I've done my carrot all-wrong. They are far to close together, I have some younger ones that I can thin out. It says four inches between them on the packet but mine are all snuggy next to each other.

[glallotments]

Can I ask if you sowed your carrots directly in the ground as you say "the carrot - lings were introduced into furrows filled with compost"?

If these were first germinated in something else then that could explain your strange shapes.

Must admit we rarely thin our carrots out and still end up with a decent crop although some tend to be wrapped in an embrace with their neighbours.

We also sow seed in shallow trenches of compost but find the carrots progress into the soil with no problem.

[Ricard with an H]

Can I ask if you sowed your carrots directly in the ground as you say "the carrot - lings were introduced into furrows filled with compost"?

What I did was to sow the carrot into compost which first went into some convenient long slender cardboard containers that were six inches wide by six inches high and two foot lengths. Rather than leaving the carrot in these containers until they were handle-able I just boshed then into the ground by scooping out some earth then lifting the clumps of carrot-N-compost.

Must admit we rarely thin our carrots out and still end up with a decent crop although some tend to be wrapped in an embrace with their neighbours.

It was after visiting a pals allotment that his carrots seemed to be embracing each-other but he just pulled them up in clumps and used them, his weren't bendy. My soil is very stony, maybe I should try to grow carrot in a compost mix. I'll tell you how bendy they are, one has grown back upwards then started to wrap itself around the top half. In fact I'll take a photo later, much easier.

Some of these carrots are actually pushing themselves out of the ground as if they don't like what they're sitting in. Next time we have pals for dinner I'm looking forward to serving some of these works of art, keep the conversation trotting-along won't it.

[glallotments]

What I did was to sow the carrot into compost which first went into some convenient long slender cardboard containers that were six inches wide by six inches high and two foot lengths. Rather than leaving the carrot in these containers until they were handle-able I just boshed then into the ground by scooping out some earth then lifting the clumps of carrot-N-compost.

Carrot roots are easily damaged if you try to transplant them - my guess (could be wrong) is that you damaged the root when popping them in the ground hence the strange shapes. Carrots are one crop that we always sow direct.

I suggest that you sow them directly into the trenches of compost (still time to have a go) and see if that is better. If you don't think the ground is good enough for the longer roots then try sowing the stumpy rooted varieties.

Alternatively you could try growing in a large container.

[Ricard with an H]

Carrot roots are easily damaged if you try to transplant them - my guess (could be wrong) is that you damaged the root when popping them in the ground hence the strange shapes. Carrots are one crop that we always sow direct.

Thank you, doesn't say much for the instructions on the packet that I didn't initially read. Oh-well they are still edible and make me smile.

I have some carrot sown direct, but direct into stony soil. They are saying hello right now. I'm wondering whats going to happen to my beetroot now. I have some transplanted and some direct. presumably the same rules apply to beetroot ?

[vegpatchmum]

If your ground really is that stony Richard then perhaps deep tubs or stubby varieties are the way to go unless you fancy digging down 2 foot and clearing the stones

Root veg are one family I always tend to sow direct but then I only grow them in my covered raised beds, all of which were built by my OH and filled with a mix of good quality topsoil and compost, so stone free. My Root veg have to go down at least a foot (nearer 1.5ft in places) before they hit 'natural' ground but they have done this in the past. Nearly dislocated my wrist trying to get a parsnip out one year .

VPM
x

P.S. Would be interested in seeing some pics of your mishapened carrots - we grew an interesting tomato a couple of years ago. My middle child named it Tommy the Tomato Duck . I'm sure we have a picture somewhere ......

[vegpatchmum]

OOOOh how lucky are you ....... I found them

2008 September 15 Tommy Tomato (1).jpg (8.39 KiB) Viewed 6357 times

2008 September 15 Tommy Tomato (2) .jpg (9.04 KiB) Viewed 6357 times

VPM
x

[Westi]

Great photo VPM. Personally I grow so many mishapen vege that it has almost become the norm so the novelty lies in finding one that looks like it is supposed to be!

Whatever it looks like doesn't matter so long as it tastes good - but must admit grating the mis-shapen carrots is not easy!

Westi

[Monika]

We have a "vegetable or fruit disaster" class in our village show - always plenty of entries, not least from me!

[Ricard with an H]

If your ground really is that stony Richard then perhaps deep tubs or stubby varieties are the way to go unless you fancy digging down 2 foot and clearing the stones

You wouldn't believe how stony the ground is, my partner has been trying get me to grow stuff for years and my excuse has always been the stony ground but she points out that the farmers get a living out of that same ground Not with root crops though.
. All my planting is in three raised beds each one three metres by three metres but I couldn't afford that expensive Rolawn soil so I had some local top soil delivered that is very stony but not as stony as our home-ground soil.

I'm going to get some photos up on this page but I have to fiddle with my camera yet because the photos are far to big for the forum and I'm a late-developer with digital stuff.

Do you know whats growing very well, sprouting-broccolli apart from those few fallen to slugs they are romping up and looking strong together with herb fennel and that funny Kohlrabi stuff.

Im most ways where I live is the answer to most peoples dreams, close to nirvana. There is a reason the farmers mostly have sheep and some cattle. The remaining ground goes to silage, some barley and sometimes oilseed rape. I have some ground that is possibly more fertile and suited to growing food but it's 100 metres from the barn we live in, to far for me to be walking back-and-forth, I may turn some of that into a comfrey patch but have yet to glyphosate the grasses.

It's all hard work.

[peter]

Buy a decent riddle and use it.

[Ricard with an H]

I started riddling, at a guess, normal riddling would mean me removing 50% of the ground material. I riddled first with 25mm, the resulting pile was so massive I decided not to riddle any further.

This all makes me sound lazy, the soil I bought was somewhere between six and ten tons cheap top-soil. Still close to £100 delivered, the 'Rowlawn' option would have been over six hundred.

Whatever soil I bought had to be delivered to a single suitable position then wheel-barrowed 100 metres into the raised beds.

The only option is to accept a certain amount of stone and avoid growing crops that can't cope with stone, I'll need to feel my way and take advise. I have flowering plants here that love growing in-amongst lots of stone.

As my father used to say, "cut your coat according to the cloth you have available".