boo hoo, my poor carrots!

[sunny skies]

my poor little carrots have died (well half of them are mysteriously flattened). they're in a pot so I know it wasn't the cat. I think the rain was just too hard for the poor lil guys. I came out this morning and what a sad, sorry sight it all was. And I'd been so excited (and, okay, admittedly, darn impressed with my green fingers).

Well, I've brought the pot in, with some of the carrots still bravely upright, and I've brought in my one lettuce, and I might have to bring everything else into our little conservatory.

Got to admit ... I didn't think veg growing would be so heart-wrenching!

Of course ... maybe I was a bit over-eager with the seeds. I looked at them, tiny things as they are, and figured one probably wouldn't do the trick, so went for the multiple-seed-one-hole approach. Maybe not a good idea?

[lancashire lass]

I know it wasn't the cat

mmm, I wouldn't be too sure, even if the carrots were in a pot!

Carrots are incredibly hardy and usually withstand most of what the weather has to offer. Is it possibly overcrowding (too many roots searching for food & water ...?) or too much extreme from dry to wet? How big is the pot?

I have grown carrots in a crate & in an old bathtub using compost. The compost can quickly dry out and many a time I've had to water them even though there had been heavy rain the day before.

[sunny skies]

hey lancashire lass, well let me be honest with you, the seeds seemed so small I *may* have seeded it pretty ... thoroughly. Like, I planted lettuce and same problem - tiny seeds - gardening is awakening me up into the power and the miracles of the small stuff! - but at the time I kinda put, mmmm, maybe 6 or so seeds in one little hole? and maybe quite a few holes in one pot? I'm thinking now this was a mistake...

[Johnhson]

Scatter your carrot seeds thinly and then thin out as they grow. The small thinnings, top & tail and add to salads - yummy.

It's the hardest part about growing veg, thinning and discarding. When you end up with 60 brussels sprouts and 112 tomato plants, it's time to rethink