Growing Carrots in a Box!

This is a trial that I set myself earlier in the year. See the planters alongside my shed? There are two polystyrene boxes and three sinks in this line-up.  I mostly sew flower seeds to brighten up the space and attract the bees...

In one polystyrene box, I decided to grow carrots to see if it was possible in such a small space.  I poked holes in the base and sat it on a couple of bricks. Then I filled the bottom with old crocks and stones for drainage.

I filled it with compost, covered it with fleece and sowed the carrot seed.  You can see below: I covered it too much and the leaves grew out the top! I thought it was doomed to fail, but faithfully watered it.

I wondered if my Blue-Peter peg, fleece and cane structure could survive the wildlife (squirrels, rabbits and pigeons).  I worried about the carrots getting enough water and whether the box be deep enough to grow straight carrots!   My last attempt had been a total carrot-fly disaster: what possessed me to try again?

When I dug them up a few days ago (20th November) the results were surprisingly good.

Total weight of harvest:  12,000g
Size of largest carrot: 13.5cm long.
Grown in 30,000 cm3 of space.
Size of box: 50cm x 30cm x 20cm

This shows that you can grow carrots in a restricted space and grow them well.  I shall certainly do this again.  For once, I'm proud to be a stubborn Brit! Next year I have yellow and purple carrots to try, so watch this space :)

Thanks for reading my post! 

Happy Gardening Folks...