Sorry to be a misery guts but why bother to grow carrots in a container? If you have some spare free-draining soil in the garden then grow them there. If you only have pots to grow veggies in then I would grow the more expensive ones; tomatoes, French beans, peppers or cucumbers. Most of the year carrots are so cheap so why bother? The only time I might be tempted to grow in a container would giant ones for exhibition.

I grow carrots in containers but i grow Chantennay ones so need reletively little compost.

With regards to the above comment about carrots being cheap so "why bother"....most veg is like that but they all taste cr@p. If everyone had that attitude, no one would bother growing anything.

THanks JimmyT.O., but my soil is mostly clay with stones among it and the carrots I have grown have never been more than 5 mls in diameter nor longer than 3 inches long. My son can't understand my need to grow carrots as he tells me they are so cheap, but just for once I would love to succeed.

Thanks Snoop, just what I wanted to hear.

I though you'd planted some already in toilet roll middles? am I wrong or didn't they germinate?
I've given up on carrots, but I can get them from a veg man who grows them just up the road, presumably in the same soil - its a mystery. Good luck! If the long ones won't grow have a go at the little globe shaped ones that are less fussy.

Also steam your vegetables to get the best flavour -
thats when you have grown them yourself.

Yes, Sue, I have 2 lots growing in kitchen rolls, 1 lot well ahead of the others. But I now have a lot of sandy sieved soil and would like to grow more.
And thanks Diane, I'd little idea of how to cook them gpfor best results. Not my scene.

I am getting a new plastic steamer from the Kleeneze catalogue Hank. Fits the microwave. I just chop up my vegetables, no salt, slice the potatoes and onions thinly
with a serated kitchen knife, add boiling water from the kettle to the base tray, and give them 10 minutes.
Gathered my Leek crop I just wash one per day under the cold tap, chop into 3 pieces, slice them in half lengthwise,
and add to this microwave mixture. Hadnt done this before. They cook beautifully.

Prepare fish, or meat while they are cooking, or just have these cooked vegetables plain with Corned Beef. Lovely after a mornings work on the garden.

Thanks D, I'll pass your advice onto my son who is in charge of the kitchen. Sadly cooking is something else I've never mastered - although I did try to make a curry many years ago.