Growing carrots in pots in a really good idea if you don't have a lot of space in your garden, or if you want to grow vegetables on your balcony. This might also be a good idea if you have carrot flies in your garden. The carrot fly can only fly about 2 feet above the ground. All you need to do is put your pots somewhere where the flies can't reach them. Problem solved!

Sow the carrots in summer

You can start harvesting early carrots after a relatively short time. It takes about three months for them to grow. That means that you can start harvesting your summer carrots in autumn.

But where to put them then? Most, if not all, of the space in my garden is taken at this time of the year. So why not grow carrots in pots? I'll go through the different steps below:

I sowed these carrots in a balcony box in my polytunnel during winter and started harvesting in May. The variety is called Paris Market and it's a round/oval little carrot.

Grow carrots in pots:

• Fill a large pot with soil from your garden (you can also use store-bought soil). Mix the soil with some sand if possible.
• Scatter the seeds on top, not too close together though.
• Add a 0.5 inch layer of soil on top and water.
• Put the pot in partial shade. Don't forget to keep watering.

Move the pot to a sunnier spot when the seeds have germinated. I try to put my pots in a spot that I always remember to water. Around the greenhouse is one good alternative, I go there every day to water, so I'm sure I won't forget. I sometimes add some diluted urine as a fertilizer when I grow carrots in pots.

I've sown carrots in August that I can harvest in autumn too. You need to sow a fast-growing variety somewhere warm in order for this to work. The carrots are delicious, but also quite small. If you want to buy seeds for the summer, try using an online garden shop. They have a lot of different varieties of early carrots you can choose from.

I decided to grow carrots in this pot in my cabbage section facing north, the partial shade there is perfect for my little carrot plants.

Harvest the carrots

It's time to start harvesting your carrots after about three months. Start harvesting the largest carrots first and leave the rest to grow a bit longer. You can find the largest carrots by looking at the carrot tops, the larger carrots will also have thicker stems.

When autumn comes and it starts to gets cold and dark outside, you can just put your pots back into the greenhouse where you can keep on harvesting them for a bit longer. Some straw around the pot will protect the roots from freezing.

Which varieties?

There are a few varieties I would recommend when you want to grow carrots in pots. I'd go for varieties that are quite short so you can grow them in your everyday pots. The varieties Paris Market and Katrin might work for you. I also like the thin early carrot varieties Harlequin and Nantes 2 that are perfect if you want to grow your carrots in a larger pot.

/Sara Bäckmo