That was very good, I like how you waited to release a video with a result rather than post the first part and never follow up like so many do.

I think, what is best in your videos is your calming voice. ;)

I think this was fascinating. I really love how you film the segments through the year and then we get to see it all at once. It makes it very instructive and gratifying to watch. Thank you for the extra effort you put into doing that. I know the results weren't as hoped, but they looked delicious to me and they probably tasted delicious, too. So many great ways of cooking carrots that size and I t hi ink it would make them feel extra special.

Such a fan of your work. Thank you for all the effort you put into your videos. Taking half a year to make one video is true dedication. Fantastic job!

Great project! Cool to see it all come together over time.

WE LIKE A GOOD HOTBED AS LONG AS IT HAS A JUICY PLOT AND SOLID CARROT DEVELOPMENT !!!!!!!!

Thank you for producing such quality videos showing the entire process. Very much appreciated.

Great idea, I hate thinning out any seedlings, it makes me feel like I'm killing them, and I have to transplant them elsewhere!

Your garden very tidy and clean.

This possibly shows how important microbial soil life is.. Compost feeds the soil life, but compost on its own can't do it - the natural soil and its structure and microbes are needed. Great video.

I enjoy your videos. You are like the Bob Ross of gardening. Very relaxing videos. I hope you continue to make more Inspiring videos.

These experiments are so educational and I very much appreciate that you share the good and bad results. Thank you!

You have a gift for teaching. Another great video. ~Heather

A video that is a series of updates over time. Seems there must be a word for that. Let's just say they're timespanning videos. Mr. Dowding, you are the undisputed King of Timespanning gardening videos :-) And it seems you must have multiple going on at any given time. You're quite coordinated, in that case. And these all really come off very well. Thank you for them.

I like this video in how to do a hotbed. Good experiment. Good baby carrots.

Добрый день Чарли,конский навоз самый лучший теплый,с компостом всё растёт прекрасно,спасибо вам.Тула Россия.

Thank you Charles. I so enjoyed watching this video. I really was tickled with your carrots. I loved them. I've watched other gardening videos where every time it came to the carrots, every one had expressed how they didn't have success with them or that they are hard to grow. Maybe everyone has too high expectations... I loved your carrots. Some are ashamed of their carrots. One man said he was ashamed to show his carrots because they had forked. He held one up. And all I could think of was how beautiful it was. Let us never lose the child-like wonder of a seed to a eatable food. It's sooooooo beautiful. Thanks for all your time and passion in making these videos for us. Enjoy your beautiful harvest.

Excellent. I love experimenting in the garden. Thank you. One year, I found an old pack of carrot seeds I had bought five years earlier. Not thinking I'd get much from it, I planted the whole pack in a pot not 2 feet in diameter. To my surprise, dozens took root. All summer, I'd walk by, pluck a baby carrot and eat it. This not only gave me a tasty snack but thinned the plants as they grew.

Thank you Charles for letting us learn from your experiment. I’ve planted two rows of Nantes in the Keder greenhouse - one on a root day and one not. The race is on for which germinates the fastest. Also germinated some old carrot seed on paper towel then put them in the ground and they are romping away. It’s all good fun😀

Now I'm really grateful for living in a tropical country. Wow, gardening is rough there mate.

Looks like a fun and productive project. Nothing like seeing a trailer full of horse manure backing up toward your garden while you wait with the wheel barrel.

This is exactly what happened to us same situation. But the ones we get are good enough.

I could listen to you talk about growing food all day long, thank you for making these videos 🥬

I've been doing this in my garden for as long as I can remember, my grandmother and grandfather taught me this!! .. and when spring comes around you already have your soil ready to be planted into..🤗😊

I do love an experiment. I mean in this case what was the worst outcome? - You get composted horse manure for the garden. In this case you also got some early carrots, which. fresh out of the garden must have tasted delightful.

I sit on the tip of my chair watching everything step, because so many do's and don't from people over the years put me off of growing carrots which are the perfect takeaway snack. Living in the southern hemisphere I may skip the hotbed I'm sure, but the rest of the processes are well demonstrated. Thank you.

I'm on the look now for pallets. Thank you for the great ideas.

Love your videos charles, learned so much thanks

Sharing, not only for carrot planting info, but how to build a hotbed! Thank you.

special thanks for the tip with 'bingenheimer' seeds... me beeing German makes it very easy to order... and doing a social service while supporting them in their work giving people with disabilities work! chapeau for the tip

Wonderful video! So helpful!! Thank you Charles.

I'll share this video. It's a usable project for all climates.

Thanks very much for this. Somehow, the hotbed build reminds me of a Red Green "Handyman Corner" segment. I like these videos very much and learn so much from each of them.

Hi. I do love your videos. :) We do have this paper container for milk in Norway. They are about 20 cm long and about 10cm wide. they are useful for carrots. I just fill them up 3/4 with a good soil, rest with seed soil. 15-20 seeds in every one of them. They can stay in milk box for about a month or even longer in my living room. Some people leave them there until they are ready to eat. When the bed outside is ready and warm enought I can cut the bottom off and put the whole thing in the soil. No disturb for roots. Nice way to start carrots in cold climate ;)

I must try this I've followed everything else you do and never had any failures keep up the good work Charles

Hello Charles. That is a grand idea to add a growing space to get more veggies. Perhaps carrots are a cool-cold loving roots. Maybe a warmth-heat loving sweet potatoes will be happy there. All my best from mine green thumbs to your green arms from Margaret in Niagara Region, Canada

I like how you see the hight of the bed reduce as the manure breaks down.

First of all, thanks God I finally found someone on youtube, who is UK based and even better not far from where I am, who is knowledgeable! I was so tired of Californian/Nevada people growing all sorts (even avocados thanks to their annoyingly glorious weather), repeating over and over again how is done and how easy it is, of course... yeah right, try growing avocados in the UK lol. Secondly, thank you so much for teaching me all I am learning from you, as it is helping me with my very modest tiny winy veggie plot in Central London (where is my medal? :). And last, but not least.... is it just me who finds Mr Charles here, rather charming with his way of communicating and over all mannerism? I think I am kinda seduced... no worries Charly boy, I am a female undercover (this is me assuming of course). Anyways, attempted humour to one side, thank you so much and keep it up, please!

"oops, that was a carrot by mistake".... ha! done that a few times myself! I just love gardeners....

If needed the gap in the pallets can be packed with straw to act as insulation; retaining more heat in the hotbed.

Driving those 4 inch posts into the ground where I live would be impossible. 4 inches into my sticky clay you would hit nearly solid limestone. I'm jealous of your soil.

Very nice Charles. Thank you.🌸

Loved this trial Charles & yes I will try but of course smaller - great learning curve for me. Cheers Denise

I swear I hear little baby carrot seeds cheering as they hit that compost 😍🤩

I eat carrot tops and all in an omlette, salads or soups. More vitamins in the tops than the actual carrots. The thinnings are very valuable for my own use!!

Fascinating experiment I love this. One learns from experience just an idea on how to improve it the next time. Wood of any kind that has not rotted down is a Nono for growing squash. Thanks for the video.

That was a fascinating and informative video. I especially appreciated your time and effort to document the sequence of building the hot bed, planting the carrots and updating progress over time. Thanks for your usual, informative and helpful videos. I should add that I'm also enjoying reading your book "Gardening Myths". Cheers.

Enjoyed part 1 & 2 and have learned a lot and had courage to give it a go, not just for this year either. When thinking about carrots I always remind myself of the old Western's when the Native Indian's would say that the cowboys had folk tongues. Yes, I could grow carrots for them but the postage would of been a trial to long.

"rather annoying lumpy shiny bits" ..... I'm dying! Thank you, Charles!

my father always said to me carrot don't like water too much they have to look for water so that's why they is so short. I am planting always in really clay soil and carrots are massive long.

really enjoyed that well done

Amazing cool......greetings from Long Branch , NJ US

Just about to try making a hotbed this year so this was great timing .

Nice, I like to use straw bales to build an above ground hot in. It really keeps the heat in well and is recyclable.

Good idea

So enjoy your videos

Wowwww!! What an excellent idea!! Definitely I will be doing this! Endless thankyous🥕🥕🥕

... I bet that would have maid a really nice side dish of steamed baby carrots with steamed carrot top greens ... 👌🏻

I love your videos. Always simple, no nonsense advice.

Nice job, it all looks so inviting.

I like your video but i tried something similar last year instead of manure i used freshly cut grass clippings and on top bags of multi potting compost the carrots were very good none of them had stunted growth but i did enjoy your video too as always

I sow tiny seed using an old salt shaker. Works great and scatters the seeds well. I’m learning a lot from your vlogs and have now purchased some of your books. Thank you.

Excellent! I love your experiments and how clear you to show them :) Looking forward to wathing your March video on aubergines! Thanks!

This looks great, and I think the carrots are fab. The taste of tiny carrots so early in the spring is the reward. They are unlikely to even leave my plot before I have eaten them, I like Nantes 5. I would like to make a hotbed but I do not have the pallets etc. nor the strength to lift the wheelbarrows. However I have managed to fill a plastic compost bin (dalek). So now to put a good layer of soil to make very small growing area but I will have to see what happens. The horse manure has a lot of woodchip, hay and horses do in it. I normally put woodchip with horse on the paths. The horse do seems to wash down into the soil and the plants either side of the path do well. In the end the wood chips just disappear. There should be some sheep available soon and that will have a lot more straw. I have done it in the past and got some really early strawberries. I used some runners from the previous summer which had been pinned into 1 ltr pots full of recycled compost, and they liked the warmth a lot, unfortunately it was too warm in the middle and I cooked a couple of plants, But I now see I should have put a deeper layer of soil or compost on top. Unlike yours I did my hotbed downwards by digging (whoops I forgot, no digging!!) sorry excavating a hole for it. So the manure was below soil level and then a raised bed of soil on the top. I think the surrounding soil keeps the warmth in. It was lined with cardboard. And I borrowed some wood panels to keep the soil up until the manure could do the job, But I pulled them out quite quickly to returned them. I also added nitrogen as a starter which I think made it heat up too quickly. Recycled compost is difficult this year, I used to collect my own for £1 a bag from the local recycling centre but it is currently unavailable, A big thank you you have encouraged me to try again.

I just found the seed company you mentioned and will oder from them this year. Thank you!

a pleasure to watch

Not something I'd do myself but always enjoy your videos anyway, lovely to hear the birds in the background on this one 👍

Hi Charles! Thanks a million for all your tips... ive built an underground eco house with raised beds on top so am hoping this same principle will work for me! ( The heat that escapes from the roof of the eco house is directly under the raised beds!)

I'm so glad, I found your channel and the no dig garden method! Today I made my 5th no dig garden, raised bed and I'm so happy about it. For this garden bed, I used my first ever home made compost (Startet it in april in a fast composter), there were still a few potatoe peelings, but the rest broke down to normal soil :) The cauliflower plants I brought, needed a new home, but I didn't have space. So glad I remember I could just compost on the ground to make a bed.

Hi Charles and family! Greeting you from Neuquen city, in the Argentinian Patagonia. I've just found your channel and I think the no dig method is great! Watching this high hot bed, I think I will try it where I live, because as I see, the roots of the plants don't reach the soil beneath. The soil where I live is a basaltic plateau with a very dry climate, almost desertic, or sub-desertic let's say. I think it can work. Thank you so much for your generosity.

what a brilliant idea thankyou torquay dave

Hi charles, I loved this video. Especially the fact that you still put it online although the growth of your carrots wasn't a great success. That's what gardening is about, isn't it. You will always learn something new. And the hotbed design is fantastic. Thank you.

I could watch this for hours!

My cheapest source of organic material is also horse manure (free). Albeit I get hardly any bedding (straw or wood chips) with it. In my experience plants do not cope well with this fresh manure. It kills off even the leaves of my neighbors ivy that is growing along the property line, which are not in direct contact to the manure. I contribute that to the ammonia that is gassing out of the manure for quite a few weeks. I would guess that the carrots didn't do well due to the ammonia and the squash due to the wood chips. Fresh horse manure put on a weedy field in early spring is actually my secret recipe for killing off weeds. Even bindweed gets weakened by it. I have often wondered how you can grow your seedlings on the hot bed in your green house. With the manure I'm using the seedlings would be killed off almost instantly. Thanks for your great work!

I'd initially put that down to too much nitrogen, e.g you're getting lots of carrot tops but hardly any root to eat but then the other carrot tops are about the same if not bigger. I guess Steph might be interested in drying the green tips as they look lush. After drying, finely chop them almost to a powder and they can be added to so many dishes as a garnish or added to smoothies or juice mixes. Once fully dry store in a jam jar. Charles, I'm using your last years videos to try an get ahead this year :) Happy days are coming.

That was a really interesting video to watch. Thanks for running that experiment, Charles :)

Thanks for this video! I LOVE that you share the experiments too. Part of what I love about gardening! Think I skimp too much on seed when planting my carrots. Will try and be a little more heavy handed this year.

Brilliant video as always. Great teaching.

Excellent video Charles 👍 Off to watch the other part. Woody

I just pulled some baby carrots that size and they always bring a smile to my face. They are a promise of more to come 😀

Makes me want one.

We recommend your hot bed to living traditions homestead. They are trying to heat a polytunnel cheaply

I used to do something similar with plastic bins. Id put peelings, seaweed, manure, compost material in the bins over the Winter period (covering with bin lid) . Come the Spring I'd top up the bins to the brim with a foot deep of good home compost and a little sand ... Then sow the carrots. The heat from the decaying matter warms the soil, the soil level drops over time whilst the carrots germinate and grow..... Whilst all is out of reach from the pesky carrot fly. It works a treat. PS at 26min ish... Salivating. I love tiny carrots. Xx

I live in Southwest Virginia and used to do something similar putting horse manure in a trench to start my sweet potato slip's

Charles, that was great! Even though the carrots were small, they were still carrots from your garden and I am sure that were yummy! Awesome experiment!

Awesome Video there Charles! I really like that pallet and post design and set up. Believe this or not I have almost burnt my hands with a green grass cutting heap. It actually started to smoulder in the middle. That was knee high grass cut from an area the size of two football pitches probably nettles and the odd bramble in there as well when we cleared some land. You can actually run some copper pipes through in the formation of a coil and get lovely hot water. Nice for washing hands down at the allotments on cold days.

Thanks for this video. Reminds of all of my brilliant experiments that don't work out. I'll continue to forge onward with more .

Hi Charles, love your videos, your speech, manner and presentation are all excellent not to mention your knowledge. I live in Southern coastal Victoria Australia and grow carrots year round outside in oblong plastic pots, in our winter we get about half a dozen days where the night temp drops to apx 0 to 3 deg c, winter daytime ave max 12 to 14c with the right seed I can grow carrots all year, I do feel for you Charles a full day building a hotbed plus time and expense no doubt you are disappointed , garden wise I thank god I live in sunny warm Australia, I wonder how they get on in Scotland Ha. all the best to you

I am lerning so much whith you, thank you for your excelents videos

Great tips

Very nice video! I am very surprised to see that Charles is utilizing seed from German "Bingenheimer Saatgut", which is together with "Dreschflegel Saatgut" the top of the line German organic seeds. I can fully recommend it to all of you! Many greetings from Germany, LG

Wow amazing.... I like

Carrots are a pain indeed but i do mine like this. I chit them first, pop them into loo roll and then when theres enough top root to show theire healthy and growing i then plant the loo roll into a bucket or a raised bed like you have there. A lot off faff but good strong stewing carrots. For babies i do as you have done, great video charles, many thanks.

I planted. Carrots. And no received. answer, ... Now I have. Peppers... Praise God... Good harvest from my little bag yard

i appreciate the honesty..subbed

Thank you so mach!!!

Really interesting and always good to experiment.

Love your videos ❤️

Thanks so much for sharing this! I have been gobbling up as much information on gardening as I can and this was informative as well as enjoyable to watch. I really liked seeing the time lapse too. I experimented with growing my own vegetables a couple of times and my carrots turned out fat too. I must have not had a thick enough layer of loose soil for them to grow down into.

This is so great to see. I started a hotbed outside today. I was planning on using it for squashes. But why not sow carrots first 🤞🏽definitely recreating these and will post a video on my channel with updates in a month.