Week 38 - Bed DD4 Planting

We cleared the bed of any remaining weeds and onions, lightly dug the soil and prepared a fine seedbed. The bed was divided into 5 equal sections and broadcast sowed:

• Amsterdam Forcing 3 Carrot - an early variety that is very quick to mature, small cylindrical roots with a rich deep orange red colour and almost no core
• Jeanette F1 Carrot - an early maturing Nantes type variety with smooth conical roots and vigorous foliage making pulling easier
• Boro F1 Beetroot - a hybrid variety with deep red internal colour, fine texture and taste
• Nantes II Carrots - an early, small cored, medium length, blunt variety
• Guardsman Scallions - very strong upright salad onion variety, especially suitable for autumn crop.

There were only a limited quantity of some of the carrot seeds, but we are planning to thin the beds quite thoroughly so that each plant has the space to grow quickly.

We covered the bed with fleece, and later in the season, we will be building a small polytunnel out of bent wire and a sheet of plastic, which will cover the entire bed. This protection and added warmth will help the plants to continue growing into the winter, and will hopefully provide us with tender sweet carrots, beetroot and onions through the winter.