Growing Carrots in Water Butts

 

I have cut down the large water butt that is cracked on the bottom and sawing the top off, I have made some additional drainage holes in the bottom of the water butt. 

I have a lot of soft sand over from when I was making  "soft bricks" that were milk bottles filled with sand for holding down weed membrane and netting. Due to the milk bottles being biodegradable replacing these became a time consuming task and in 2021 I replaced all of the soft bricks with paving blocks I picked up off freecycle in addition to some I had left over from when my own drive was constructed. 

So the water butts has been filled with soft sand and will be watered so that there is some cohesion between the sand particles. 

I will then make bore holes in the sand using a rainwater down pipe, and broom handle for the last few inches. I'm looking to bore the holes and fill them one at a time as I don't want the bore to collapse as I'm boring holes nearby or filling them. 

I will make a mixture of bought compost, my own compost, some soil from the beds, coir and a little fertiliser, which will be sieved so as to be large lump free. I'm also thinking that I will try different composts in different bores to see which perform the best and announce the winning compost at harvest. 

Using a funnel with the bottom cut off I will then slowly fill and tamp the compost mix into the bore until its full to the top.   

Each bore will be sown with 3-4 seeds then thinning to healthiest looking plant.

Bamboo canes will provide posts to support debris netting will be used to prevent any high flying carrot root flies from getting at my carrots.   

I'm not looking to enter or win any competition I just want the enjoyment of harvesting some Bugs Bunny type carrots and not some deformed mutants like I've had in the past.  

The Bugs Bunny type carrots that I'm going to grow both come from Dobies and were New Varieties in 2022.

Dobies - Mercurio F1 - Code 43 39 81 -  300 Seeds - £2.99 non members  

Mercurio F1’ is the early harvesting carrot variety. It has good bolting resistance so it stands on the ground longer. Vigorous and upright habit, smooth skin and excellent colour. 

180-200 mm long roots, 30 - 50 mm wide, delicious raw or steamed.

Sow:      February to April

Harvest: Late June to September 

Dobies - Ibiza  - Code 43 39 21 -  400 Seeds - £3.49 non members on offer at the moment at 89p 

Ibiza F1, offers the quality and taste of a Nantes, with the shape of an Imperator. Incredibly sweet, perfect for snacking, has better colour and taste than 'SugarSnax 54'.

300mm long, tapered, smooth roots with 30 - 40mm wide shoulders and very dark orange colour. Look great in raised beds and borders. 

Sow: March-June 18mm (3/4") deep in drills 230mm - 300mm apart. Thin seedlings when the first rough leaves appear. repeating as necessary until plants are 50mm - 75mm apart. Sow thinly to minimise thinning (which can attract Carrot Root Fly)

Harvest:  June-October.

There will be blog posts when I set up the cut down water butt and try growing these varieties June - October we will see the results. I may even try some successional sowings between February - June of both varieties so that I can extend the harvest period from June to October If I can find more water butts or make some small raised beds and have enough sand.