Kitchen Garden Forum

I have some corrugated iron and was thinking of sinking it down to make a raised bed and design the soil to go in it. My main soil is clay which is now quite loamy due to a few years of persistent manuring, well rotted of course. What could I add to this mixture to give my carrots a chance of becoming straighter and deeper (one eye on the village show in August as well) CoMpO

Lots of sand.

I grew carrots with good sucess last year by digging a narrow trench (use a border spade), and filling it with spent compost and sand from the greenhouse tomatoes, which I grow in compost in bottomless buckets on a bed of grit sand. Some are as big as parsnips !

Hello Compo
Beware the dreaded carrot rootfly!
You might find this topic useful

viewtopic.php?f=4&t=9108

It includes a posting of mine about growing carrots in barrels.
If you are 'growing for showing' seriously then I would recommend a barrel/dustbin or similar container. Not all varieties are suitable for the show bench. 'Sweet Candle' would be an excellent choice and is great favourite with the kitchen lady (DW).

John

Two questions so far...

1. I have a few bags of ordinary building sand, yes and plenty of spent compost.

2. If the bed is raised above the normal ground level by a couple of feet the carrot fly will not be an issue I have read

3. If there is not an issue with carrot fly, and there has not been in the past, then can I refresh the bed and use it for a few years?

CoMp0

Compo, raise the SIDES of the bed rather than the bed itself. But after my experience this year I will recommend Enviromesh or some such; I didn't get any carrot fly. Of course, you can raise the sides of the bed and drape the enviromesh over the edges, but you'll need a way of holding it down against the winds.

Sorry, Compo, I forgot to say add leafmould, as muc as you can get. I dare say worm compost will also be good, but carrots like a slightly acidsic soil and the leafmould will do a treat.