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May 2025 | Phonebox Magazine 45As well as the familiar orange vegetables, there are many other types and colours, and if you grow your own you will be able to enjoy far more varieties than you will ever fi nd in the shops. Look out for purple, yellow and white carrots to impress your friends with.Carrots are easy to grow as long as you have a good quality soil and keep an eye on pests and diseases, such as carrot root fl y. You will fi nd an abundance of carrot seeds at your local garden centre and they will carry instructions on soil, positioning and watering. Carrots come in a variety of sizes with longer or shorter roots so you can choose a variety that will suit the amount of space and depth you have. Start them off in trenches, sowing the seeds sparingly and covering with fresh soil. Planting them too close could result in stunted growth. Water gently with a fi ne spray. They should start to grow in two to three weeks and will continue well if looked after. A crop of carrots could be ready to harvest within three to four months. Even though we are now into spring and heading for summer, make sure the ground is not too cold. If there is any frost about, protect the plants with a cover.The plants like light areas, well drained but still moist. Check the soil is free from lumps and stones. You can plant one lot of seeds and then dip another two weeks later, for a longer period of harvesting, later in the year. Alternatively experiment with one variety, followed by another, completely diff erent type a fortnight later.These tough vegetable don%u2019t need a huge amount of care. Water is vital but not too much %u2013 if the soil is too wet, the roots won%u2019t grow out looking for moisture and you will end up with small carrots. Keep an eye out for any plant that is fl owering. Once this happens you can%u2019t eat the carrot and it can be removed.It%u2019s better to sow the seeds sparingly rather than waiting for crops to grow and then start thinning. Pulling carrots up can attract the attention of carrot root fl ies which will lay eggs near the plant so that their larvae can burrow into the plant and eat it.When it comes to harvest time, identify the crop you want to pick and lift them gently out of the ground. If the ground is dry water it fi rst to loosen things up. Once you have removed your plants, water the ground again to settle the remaining soil around the growing roots.Wash and store your carrots and enjoy them almost all year round. They are just as at home in a summer salad as they are garnishing a Christmas dinner!Carrots are a hardy and easy-to-grow crop to raise from seed. And May is the perfect time to sow a crop and you can continue well into the year with them.PHONEBOX GARDENING GROWINGCARROTSTYPES OF CARROT:SugarsnaxNantesNigelParmexSweet CandlePurple HazeRainbowResistafl yBangorFlyawayPurple Haze RainbowNantes Sugarsnax