sickpup
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where are my carrots?my carrots are about knee hight now and some are starting to flower so i thought it was time to lift them but when i did i had nothing but long white roots, have i picked them to early?
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Jamanda
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When did you plant them? I thought carrots were biennial and flowered in the second year, the actual carrot being the store to get them from the first to the second year.
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Jonnyboy
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I was just about to post that Jamanda. 
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sickpup
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i planted them about the end of may start of june, i read that they dont flower till there second year and was surprized to see small yellow flowers on them
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Jonnyboy
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Sounds like they would be too early to harvest yet, I'm stumped by the flowers though.
How acid is your soil?
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sickpup
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how much longer should i leave them in the ground?
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Treacodactyl
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| sickpup wrote: | | i planted them about the end of may start of june, i read that they dont flower till there second year and was surprized to see small yellow flowers on them |
Yellow flowers? The ones I've seen are white, are you sure it's the carrots flowering and not weeds? If you google carrot flowers does that look like your ones?
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Jonnyboy
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You can harvest them up until november IIRC. There are methods of overwintering in the ground using straw as an insulator but I've never tried it.
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sean
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If they have flowered then the roots aren't going to bulk up anyway.
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mochyn
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Ummm... they don't sound like carrots to me...
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Jamanda
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Where did the seeds come from? Is it possible that the carrots got munched by the evil carrot fly and you are tending usurpers?
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marigold
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| mochyn wrote: | | Ummm... they don't sound like carrots to me... |
Ditto. Can you post a picture sickpup?
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gil
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Photos would be very useful
That sounds to me as though if it is a vegetable, it could be some kind of brassica (yellow flowers) - long white radishes or the like ?
What are the leaves like ?
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tahir
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| sean wrote: | | If they have flowered then the roots aren't going to bulk up anyway. |
Yup, but white is definitely the wrong colour for roots (unless yuou planted white carrots), and yellow is the wrong colour for flowers. It could well be fennel which has a very similar seed, long white root and yellow flowers, crush some leaves and describe the smell.
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Rosemary Judy
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sometimes they can go to seed in the same year - if sown early enough, and conditions ae bad enough - too dry normally......
you said ' planted them' which is not a good idea with carrots - do you mean 'sown seed' ?
And slugs normally get mine as they emerge unless well protected with eggs shells, ash and the occasional green slug pellet....
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sickpup
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have tried posting a picture but for some reason it wont upload,will keep trying.the roots have a kind of sweet smell, i got the seeds from aldi along with lettuce seeds and runner bean seeds they have grown ok
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Jamanda
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The photo must be too big. Try to reduce it, or email it to me, and I'll do it for you.
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tahir
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Lettuce has yellow flowers, but the leaves are very lettucey
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marigold
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Parsnips have yellow flowers don't they? And the roots smell sweetish. Though it's still surprising that they've flowered in the first year...
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tahir
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But the leaves are very parsnipy...
The only similarly leaved plant I can think of is fennel
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marigold
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Fennel foliage isn't all that similar to carrot either - at least my ginormous bronze fennel isn't!
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tahir
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It's not that dissimilar as a young plant, in which case it wouldn't be flowering, hmmm.....
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mochyn
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Can't wait to see it. Will it be a parsnip? Will it be a trffid? Will it be a cow?
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Treacodactyl
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Dill? Or just weeds?
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Jonnyboy
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Even a tiny carrot seedling tastes 'carroty'
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sickpup
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they are tomato plants, the seeds must have been mixed up at where ever they came from because i never bought any tomato seeds
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Jonnyboy
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Ahhhhhhhhh.
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lettucewoman
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um...didnt the smell give them away???
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sickpup
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na, i aint never planted anything before so didnt know what they would smell like
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tahir
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| sickpup wrote: | | na, i aint never planted anything before so didnt know what they would smell like |
Don't worry, you'll soon get the hang of it, apart from the look of things smell is also a very useful identifier.
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Jonnyboy
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Good news is that if you have flowers then you may get tomatoes, weather permitting.
Have you supports for them?
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Jamanda
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Gosh! Not what I was expecting Can you see any little tomatoes coming on them?
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sickpup
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no tomatos yet, where will they grow from?
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gil
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Where the flowers were - once a flower has been pollinated by insects/bees, it will become a fruit - the tomato.
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sickpup
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can you tell if they been pollinated or do you just have to wait and see if a tomato forms?
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gil
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just wait. they start as a small round green thing.
If they're outside, there should be no shortage of insects going about to do the business
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