Carrot Touchon - Ferme de Sainte Marthe Seeds

'Touchon' is a popular, excellent quality French heirloom. This high-yielding Nantes type variety produces half-long, straight, coreless roots with rounded tips. The firm, crisp, bright orange flesh has excellent flavour. Sow this early season to maincrop carrot under cloches in February-March or outdoors from April to June. Harvest from late May to November.

The carrot is a herbaceous, biennial root vegetable grown as an annual, belonging to the Apiaceae family. It is cultivated for its fleshy, edible taproot. Carrot roots are generally orange and contain high quantities of carotene. Carrots plants average 30 cm in height. They can be grown in most soil types, but best results will be achieved in rich, light, deep soil. It is essential to prepare the seed bed properly beforehand: dig over thoroughly in the autumn, remove stones and amend with 2-3 kg of well decomposed manure or compost. A fortnight before sowing, break up the soil with a rake and add slow-release fertilizer.

Harvesting: harvest maincrop carrots as and when required. Dig up the roots carefully with a garden fork. Damaged carrots will not store well. Yields depend on the variety and the type of crop. As a guideline, expect between 1 and 1.5 kg/m² for an early crop; about 3 kg/m² for a maincrop of stump-rooted carrots and up to 5 kg for a late crop of long-rooted carrots.

Storage: carrots can be left in place until you are ready to harvest them. However, this method monopolises precious growing space; moreover, the crop will need to be protected from winter frost damage under a good layer of mulch. Indoor storage is an excellent long term option. Trim the leaves just above the root collar. In a frost-free and well-ventilated place, lay out the roots on a bed of damp sand. Cover them with about 2 cm of sand, top with another layer of carrots and so on...

Good to know:  Sow radishes and carrots simultaneously in the same row to space out the seeds naturally and limit thinning. Radishes are harvested first, loosening the soil and leaving room for the carrots to grow. Planting leeks next to carrots helps both crops by repelling carrot flies, onion flies and leek moths.

NB. Organic seeds (in French "AB" for "Agriculture Biologique") are produced from plants that aren't treated with phytosanitary products (insecticides, weed killers). The seeds do not undergo post-harvest treatment. They carry the AB label and are approved by Ecocert, an independent structure.