Is it possible to...

[ianw]

...grow carrot tops and harvest the seeds?

I'm just wondering if it's possible. It's just that I spend ages seiving out my carrot bed, bought a pack of seeds and I've only managed to get five plants from the packet.

[MKG]

Yes, it's possible - but the carrot is a biennial plant, which means it won't flower (and so seed) until its second year.

[Mainer in Exile]

This is from one of my favorite gardening books, THE FIELD AND GARDEN VEGETABLES OF AMERICA

BY FEARING BURR, JR. It's available for free (public domain) from Project Gutenberg http://www.gutenberg.org/files/21682/21 ... 1682-h.htm
It was published in 1863, but almost all of it is still valid for today. Plus, it gives instruction on how to raise seed for the garden plants we grow, a feature missing from most modern gardening books.

To raise seed, select good-sized, smooth, and symmetrical roots; and as early in spring as the frost is out of the ground, and the weather settled, transplant to rows three feet apart, and fifteen inches apart in the rows, sinking the crowns just below a level with the surface of the ground. The seed-stalks are from four to six feet in height, with numerous branches. The flowers appear in June and July; are white; and are produced at the extremities of the branches, in umbels, or flat, circular groups or clusters, from two to five inches in diameter. The seed ripens in August; but, as all the heads do not ripen at once, they should be cut off as they successively mature. The stiff, pointed hairs or bristles with which the seeds are thickly covered, and which cause them to adhere together, should be removed either by threshing or by rubbing between the hands; clearing them more or less perfectly, according to the manner of sowing. If sown by a machine, the seeds should not only be free from broken fragments of the stems of the plant, but the surface should be made as smooth as possible. For hand-sowing, the condition of the seed is less essential; though, when clean, it can be distributed in the drill more evenly and with greater facility.

[Thurston Garden]

Ian - I have had a similar problem, although I am blaming old seed I was trying to use up. I filled an 8 by 4 raised bed with sieved soil and sowed 5 different varieties. Only one has germinated properly. So did a lot of nettles though - these have now been weeded out and I should have a sterile bed for resowing autumn carrots. Fortunately my bed is in the bog tunnel so even a sowing as late as August would yield some good carrots.

I would just buy an autumn seed and try again - carrot seed takes a while to germinate and I have a bad habit of letting the bed dry out until they appear (or don't as is often the case!)

[andyt]

Hi ianw,
Not sure 'bout carrot tops, but be aware of killer slugs (with spades),in foliage.
"Pumpy"

[Lady Willow]

I don't have time this year, but next year I'm going to set up a seed bed and let crops in there run to seed for collection and use.

I've never grown from my own veggie seeds before (bar the obvious, tomatoes, melon, chilli, etc) so I'm looking forward to having a go with root crops.

Imagine how fulfilling that will be!