Scottish growing tool

Carrots Variety Selector: Which One For Your Garden

Every recommendation below traces back to our full Carrots varieties comparison — this page is the fast route to one answer for your specific situation, no clicking through required.

If: Yes, it's present on my plot or No, I've checked and it isn't an issue here → Not sure, just give me the safest all-round choice or Not sure, just give me the safest all-round choice

FlyawayAGM

The only one of the six RHS Award-winning varieties resistant to carrot fly, the pest that's the most common reason gardeners give up on carrots. Where fly is confirmed present, that resistance outweighs a small difference in sweetness or yield, because the alternative is losing the crop rather than just enjoying it slightly less.

If: No, I've checked and it isn't an issue here → Heavy, stony, or clay ground

AdelaideAGM

The widest soil tolerance of the six, including chalk, and its early, finger-shaped root bulks up before soil problems have time to compound. Blunt-rooted like Flyaway and Marion, so it copes better than a long-tapered type when a root meets a stone or a lump of clay. Listed as susceptible to carrot fly rather than resistant.

If: No, I've checked and it isn't an issue here → Longest storage, want to leave carrots in the ground over winter

MarionAGM

It can be harvested from August through to March in "milder UK regions", the longest storage window of the six, with none of the others reaching anything close to it. Also blunt-tipped, and the only one of the six not listed for clay soil, pointing the same direction as its shape. Listed as susceptible to carrot fly rather than resistant.

If: No, I've checked and it isn't an issue here → Best yield, soil isn't heavily clay or stony

Sweet CandleAGM

Picked for yield, on ground that isn't heavily clay or stony: it's cylindrical with a rounded tip and almost coreless. Heavily clay or stony soil may cause it to fork. Listed as susceptible to carrot fly rather than resistant.

If: No, I've checked and it isn't an issue here → Sweetness, and I've got deep, loose soil

Sugarsnax 54AGM

Picked for sweetness, on deep, loose ground. It's long and tapered, the root shape most likely to fork on heavy or stony soil, so it wants deep sandy soil to do well. Listed as susceptible to carrot fly rather than resistant.

If: No, I've checked and it isn't an issue here → Colour, and I've got deep, loose soil

Deep PurpleAGM

Picked for colour, on deep, loose ground. Long, slender, and purple-skinned, the same tapered shape as Sugarsnax 54 that's more likely to fork on heavy or stony soil. Listed as susceptible to carrot fly rather than resistant.

If: No, I've checked and it isn't an issue here → Very stony ground, or growing in a container/raised bed

Parmex

On ground that's never going to prepare well, very stony, or a bed you can't rework, raised beds or a deep container sidestep the problem rather than solve it. Parmex, a round-rooted variety, suits pots, for gardeners who want that option alongside the six AGM varieties.

Answer these as a quick wizard instead →

Carrots growing guide →Full Carrots varieties comparison →