Morning Light: The Fetchland Gardening Wire

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Derby Tup Mar 2020 2:09pm, 29 Mar 2020 39,111 posts	0 Derby Tup I’ve never grown anything in my life but Stef and I are preparing a veg patch There’s a really nice guy a few doors down the road and I had a chat over the paddock fence earlier with him. Our soil is (as we thought) very good and it’s possible to grow more or less anything here. One bit of bad news is he’s found carrots aren’t easy! The soil is TOO good he thinks. Tussock Vizsla loves carrots 🥕
Rosehip Mar 2020 2:13pm, 29 Mar 2020 15,453 posts	0 Rosehip Ralph digs up carrots from the garden, but won't eat them if he's given them in the house. Carrots aren't the easiest thing to grow, especially if you disturb them too much and get carrot fly - but I agree with Ralph that fresh from the ground they taste completely different
Angus Clydesdale Mar 2020 2:23pm, 29 Mar 2020 17,280 posts	0 Angus Clydesdale If the soil’s too good you end up with “alien” carrots. Which can be good fun.
Derby Tup Mar 2020 2:27pm, 29 Mar 2020 39,112 posts	0 Derby Tup My dad was a keen gardener and grew spuds, runner beans, peas, brussels etc plus had a greenhouse for tomatoes. I remember alien carrots from being young
Dvorak Mar 2020 2:37pm, 29 Mar 2020 19,344 posts	0 Dvorak I've failed repeatedly with carrots, i even tried the ball kind. As carrot flies are apparently rubbish at actual flying, I've read that growing them in something raised, not even by much, will defeat them. Not much use for a 10 metre row, maybe. Have some old car tyres kicking about - maybe this is the year I'll use them as mini-planters.
Rosehip Mar 2020 2:42pm, 29 Mar 2020 15,454 posts	0 Rosehip I was told to make sure that old tyres are lined with something incase nasties leach out - no idea if that's true or not. We painted some bright colours at school but only grew flowers in them, not veg.
Flatlander Mar 2020 2:45pm, 29 Mar 2020 1,618 posts	0 Flatlander Carrot root flies fly close to the ground and are attracted by smell. I use a 1 foot high barrier (with not even the smallest gap at the bottom) around my carrots as well as companion planting. More at gardenersworld.com
Derby Tup Mar 2020 2:49pm, 29 Mar 2020 39,114 posts	0 Derby Tup I read they struggle to take off and when they have they then can’t land for a while hence a barrier working
Garfield Mar 2020 5:28pm, 29 Mar 2020 12,264 posts	0 Garfield LOL Rosehip! I'm going to try growing carrots this year... Dvorak, I forgot to buy sunflower seeds for the other thread before the lockdown!!
Eynsham Red Mar 2020 5:47pm, 29 Mar 2020 5,504 posts	0 Eynsham Red The mention of seeds reminded me of these photos I took of some poppy seed heads last autumn.