Carrots not growing

[Elle's Garden]

I am not sure if this is the right place as my carrots are nowhere near harvesting - what have I done wrong?

I have sown a 3 seed collection of Amsterdam Sweetheart, Nandor and Autumn King. I sowed them all in Mid may which was within the time on the packets. They are in enormous pots, and I did partly thin them - at which stage I was quite excited as some were an inch or two long and I was able to put them in a stir fry. Since then though, they don't seem to have grown much at all! That was probably earlyish in July.

My thoughts are that I have not watered them enough. It has not been hugely hot and dry here, and they have never really looked dry - but may be I should have watered them more anyway. Don't get me wrong, I haven't not watered them, just not as much as my tomatoes for instance which are in baskets and I can easily see when they are dry.

Is it too late, or will the carrots continue to grow if I water them more?

[FelixLeiter]

Is it too late, or will the carrots continue to grow if I water them more?

If they have been short of water, and you start giving them lots now, they may split. Have you also been feeding your carrots? Are they healthy? Discoloured leaves may indicate that something is awry.

[Elle's Garden]

Hello Felix,

The leaves look healthy and green, no discolouring. I have fed them periodically with a multi purpose feeder. I have watered them in the few dry spells we have had, but we have had a lot of good showers throughout August. I have had to water my runner beans only a handful of times all summer, and that was more to give them some feed rather than because I thought they needed the water - admittedly they are in the ground, but these are tiny carrots in huge tubs!

[FelixLeiter]

Tubs, pots and planters still need watering even in showering weather. Wooden ones especially, since the wood tends to wick the water away. Councils are often derided for going out with their watering trucks to tend to their baskets during downpours, but actually they do need to keep on top of them. Pots and tubs require more water than falls naturally, especially if they are growing a crop as most crops tend to require more water than the seasonal mean rainfall in any case, even when grown in the ground.

Have you had a rootle around to see that the water's penetrating right through the compost? Sometimes the top can appear moist while the lower part remains dry.

[Malk]

In a similar question. Will my carrots continue to grow over the autumn? I've planted some Autumn King as well as some other types, but because it's soo cool up here they are growing really slowly (lots of rain here so not a problem). I've covered them with fleece, will they keep on growing?

[Elle's Garden]

I got fed up looking at the poorer looking of my tubs and dug them all up today. Only got enough for one meal, but there were a few that were a reasonable size, - and the soil down deeper was still moist - so that has encouraged me slightly. I will leave the other two better looking tubs in the hope that they will continue to gain some weight.

[tatws]

My advice is go back to basics and prepare the soil before seeding, get the nutrients and humus into the soil well before you seed !