Fothergill's RHS Carrot Maestro F1 Seeds

Details:

• Botanical Name: Daucus carota 'Maestro F1', a highly refined, premium-grade hybrid cultivar within the Nantes carrot group.
• Plant Class: Hardy Annual, possessing superior hybrid vigour that ensures rapid, uniform root development and excellent seedling establishment.
• Sweet and Smooth Roots: Produces beautifully uniform, cylindrical roots with a smooth skin, a crisp texture, and a high natural sugar content that delivers a rich, sweet flavour far surpassing standard supermarket varieties.
• Advanced Disease Resistance: Bred with modern genetics to feature excellent natural resistance against Alternaria leaf blight and cavity spot, ensuring the plants remain healthy, productive, and resilient in the ground.
• Extended Harvesting Season: Holds its firm quality exceptionally well in the soil before lifting, providing a versatile, long cropping window that is perfect for steady, successional kitchen harvesting.
• Reliable Garden Performance: An excellent choice for gardeners of all experience levels, combining robust disease defenses with dependable, high-yielding results in traditional plots or deep raised beds.
• Nutritional Value: A highly rewarding, health-boosting crop to cultivate at home, serving as a fantastic natural source of beta-carotene, dietary fibre, and essential antioxidants.

Care Instructions:

• Sowing Position: For a steady, non-stop supply of sweet carrots, sow small successional batches every 2 to 3 weeks from March through to July. Sow seeds thinly directly into finely raked, weed-free, stone-free, and well-drained soil 1cm deep, in rows spaced 30cm apart. Position in full sun.
• Carrot Fly Prevention: To deter the common carrot root fly, sow seeds thinly to minimize the need for thinning later, as the scent of crushed foliage attracts the pest. Alternatively, cover the entire bed with a fine insect mesh immediately after sowing.
• Moisture and Maintenance: Keep the soil consistently and evenly moist during dry summer spells. Providing a steady supply of water prevents the developing roots from splitting and ensures a juicy, tender texture. Keep the rows well-weeded to reduce competition for nutrients.
• Harvesting and Storage: Pull alternative roots early to enjoy as tender baby carrots, leaving the remainder to grow to full maturity. Harvest maincrop roots as needed through to October, or lift them in late autumn, trim the foliage, and store in boxes of damp sand in a cool, frost-free shed for winter use.