Growing Autumn and Winter carrots

Extend your growng season and harvest early season and late season carrot crops by sowing under cloches.

As one of the most popular vegetables eaten in the UK it is well worth trying to extend the growing season to ensure you have a supply of fresh or stored carrots for at least nine months of the year or longer. This necessitates manipulating the growing conditions using cloches as you attempt to grow to the very 'edge of season' for this particular crop.

When to sow carrots in Autumn and Winter

Forced late crop - Sow August / September harvest in November / December

For a crop of young carrots ready to pull in November / December sow early varieties outdoors in September (August in the North) and cover with cloches in the autumn.

Forced early crop - Sow February for June onwards harvest.

Start warming the soil with your AcryliCloche® in the first few weeks of February (2/3 weeks later for North) to promote germination. Sow mid to end of February in the South (2/3 weeks later in the North) Keep under cloches until all danger of frost has passed. Sow thinly, about 100mm apart so they have the space to grow quickly. Provide a fine soil as a seed bed, a mixture of sand and leaf mould or compost will help greatly to improve germination if your soil is heavy.

Growing tips

The carrot plant is a cool weather biennial which completes its growing cycle over two years. It grows a root and stores energy in the first year so that it can produce its seed in the second year. It can tolerate high summer temperatures once grown but needs low temperatures to trigger the production of flower / seed heads. It will grow in cool temperatures and will tolerate light frost though soil temperatures need to be around 10 deg.c for germination.

Use a cloche to raise soil temp and improve germination. Soil temperature is critical for getting your seed to germinate and at temperatures below 5 degrees they will struggle. A soil temperature of around 10 deg.c  is recommended. Place your PoshCloche over the soil at least two to three weeks before sowing to raise the soil temperature. The first few weeks after sowing is crucial and seeds will not germinate if sown too deeply in a dry bed. Ensure they are shallow sown and kept evenly moist as they germinate.

Carrots prefer light stone free sandy soils so if you have clay soil then do your best to improve it by adding organic matter. Do not fertilise or use fresh manure on the ground you intend to grow carrots on as this will cause them to fork.

Cloches provide excellent physical barriers against carrot fly which is the main pest to threaten a crop. Adult carrot flies are attracted by the smell of carrots and lay their eggs at ground level where the grubs hatch out and tunnel into the carrot root. The first and worst attack occurs in mid May and mid June. Subsequent attacks are in Autumn and sometimes in Winter if it is very mild. Keep your cloches on for as long as possible during these times to prevent attack from the carrot fly.  If you are badly affected by carrot fly then do not leave crops in the ground overwinter as these will feed the grubs ready for the next generation of fly in spring.
The carrot fly takes flight on still sunny days so avoid pulling carrots on these days. Practice good crop rotation and if you have a known problem with carrot fly soak the bed once a week with a thin mixture of wood ashes and water using a watering can.