Carrot Autumn King 2

The big maincrop carrot that fills the storage crates. Autumn King 2 makes broad-shouldered conical roots of 20 to 25cm with deep orange flesh, and weights over 200 grams are common on well-grown plants. This is not the quick salad carrot; it is the winter staple that sees a kitchen through from October to spring.

The flavour is honest rather than exotic — unmistakably carroty, sweet, dependable. It improves noticeably after the first autumn frosts, when the sugars concentrate in response to the cold.

One thing determines success more than any other: never sow it into freshly manured ground. Fresh manure produces forked and distorted roots. Follow a crop of beans or peas, or use a bed manured the previous autumn. Stored in damp sand somewhere cool and dark, the roots keep four to six months without losing much.