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Containers

Growing carrots in pots

The short answer

Carrots grow well in pots of peat-free multi-purpose compost. Choose small, round-rooted varieties, or a pot more than 20cm deep for baby roots, and a deep container for long-rooted types. Thin to about 8cm apart, water regularly, and cover the pot with fleece from April, or raise it up, to keep carrot fly off.

A pot solves two carrot problems at once: stony or heavy soil that forks the roots, and carrot fly, which flies low. What it adds is watering.

How deep a pot

  • Small, round-rooted varieties are ideal for most containers.(RHS)
  • Long-rooted carrots need deep containers, or can be pulled young as baby carrots.(RHS)
  • For baby roots, ideally more than 20cm deep. RHS suggests a 25cm-diameter pot per crop.(RHS)

Sowing and spacing

  • Sow thinly and cover with about 1cm of compost, then water well.(RHS)
  • Thin seedlings to 8cm between plants. In the ground RHS thins to 5 to 7.5cm.(RHS, RHS)
  • ‘Nantes’ or ‘Amsterdam’ types can be sown in containers from February for June harvests.(RHS)
  • Add nutrients to multi-purpose compost, with garden compost in the bottom half or a slow-release fertiliser.(RHS)

Water, sun and carrot fly

  • Water containers regularly. Carrots in the ground rarely need it; in a pot they dry out quickly.(RHS)
  • Keep the moisture even, or the roots split.(RHS)
  • Put the pots in a sunny spot.(RHS)
  • Cover with fleece from April to exclude carrot fly.(RHS)
  • Or raise the pots onto a table: carrot flies are poor fliers and won’t usually get up that high.(RHS)

Harvest

Pull them as soon as they are big enough to use: when to harvest carrots. Sowing dates for the open ground: when to sow carrots.

Pots and beds, on one plan

Add your pots and beds to Vercro with what is growing in each. It keeps the record, and Today shows the few jobs that matter each morning.

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Where this comes from

The growing advice on this page comes from the published sources below, each linked beside the point it supports. Where two good sources disagree, we show both rather than choosing the convenient one. Reviewed 19 September 2026.