I'm using Neem as a spray against cabbage butterflies and the resultant caterpillars and it works very successfully. I bought it online and all the brassicas are looking healthier because of it. A definite plus.

I made some new raised beds in 2009 and bought soil from a recommended local supplier. It was a mixture of fen soil and horse manure, and contained aminopyralid. I've been digging, turning and not using this bed for 5 years, and it's still contaminated. I tried some overwintered broad beans on it la...

Daveswife, I shall try that. I'd never thought of growing carrots in a greenhouse, but I shall sow what seeds I have left, and see what happens. Life is always full of surprises.

Thank you everyone, and especially Richard H for all the chatty wisdom. It's distilled into three point, carrots don't like pots; not watered enough; pulled too early. Hmmm. So how DO you get tasty carrots?

Please advise: I planted Autumn King in large troughs ( to avoid carrot fly) which I filled with a mixture of sharp sand, peat free compost and compost of my own. These have now matured into rather pale, woody, juiceless and tasteless carrots. What have I done wrong?
Thanks
Barbara