AB MIXED CARROTS (From Colmar with red heart 2, Gniff, Blanche de Kuttingen and Jaune du Doubs)
Daucus carota
A blend of four heirloom varieties selected to produce a colorful range of orange, yellow, white, and purple, delicious from seed. They can be used fresh or preserved over winter.
Composition of the mix: Colmar carrot with red heart 2, Gniff carrot, White Kuttingen carrot and Yellow Doubs carrot.
How to successfully sow carrots in a mixture
These slow-growing varieties should be sown in April-May.
Prepare the seedbed well: loosen the soil well and water it. Sow thinly in rows 25 to 30 cm apart, a few millimeters deep, in rich, loose, very fine soil mixed with sand, in a sunny location.
Place a P17 type cover over the seed to keep the soil moist and prevent the surface from drying out. Keep moist until the seedlings develop.
Thin out once to 4 or 5 leaves at 2 or 3 cm then to 7/8 cm.
Hoe and weed regularly. Water during dry periods.
Harvesting mixed carrots
Harvest between September and November in 130 to 140 days.
Good pairings with carrots
You can combine your carrot crops with radishes, which means you don't have to thin out the carrot row several times, and radishes also keep red spider mites away.
Near your carrot crop you can grow onions, garlic or even leeks, they will benefit the carrot by repelling flies.
Preserving carrots
Let your carrots dry for 1 to 2 days on the ground, cut the leaves off at the root collar and clean them without washing them. When they are dry, place them in sand in the cellar.
Enemies of the carrot
The main pest of carrots is the carrot fly. The larvae of this fly tunnel into the roots, working their way down to the tip. The heaviest infestations occur in July/August.
The affected carrot foliage turns yellow and wilted. The best way to combat carrot flies is through prevention, using the right combinations of tansy and lavender decoctions, as well as applying an insect repellent.
Root aphids can also cause significant damage, which can be controlled with a treatment based on nettle manure.
