Daucus Carota – 0.89g – Approx 750 Seeds        

Carrot ‘St Valery’ is an old French heirloom that was made famous in Vilmorin’s 1885 publication Les Plantes Potagères (The Vegetable Garden). Even then, it was described as a variety that had been grown for a long time, with many sources suggesting its roots go back as far as the 1600s.

Also known as Carotte Longue Rouge de Saint Valery, it was named after Saint-Valery-sur-Somme, a coastal town in northern France with a long history of market gardening and food production. This is a classic French maincrop carrot that had already been refined to perfection long before raised beds and perfectly sieved compost became the norm, so it can cope with less than perfect soil.

A great performer, producing long, tapered red-orange roots with a really good flavour.

The carrot seeds should be direct sown in late spring or earlier if under cover. Cover the seeds with a fine layer of soil. Thin the seedlings to 5-6cm when they are large enough. Avoid sowing into freshly manured, wet or stony ground. Harvest early sowings from June and sow successionally through to mid summer.