Amsterdam Forcing 3
The one to sow first and eat first, and the best choice for a shallow container or a March cloche.
Amsterdam Forcing was bred for growing under glass and in frames, which is exactly why it works as the first outdoor sowing of the Irish year. The roots are slender, cylindrical and blunt ended, only 12 to 15cm long, and they reach a usable size faster than any other common type. It is a carrot to pull young and eat fresh rather than one to store, and it is the type most likely to succeed in a container or a shallow raised bed.
Quick facts
- Botanical name
- Daucus carota
- Type
- Open pollinated
- Category
- Amsterdam type, first early
- Difficulty
- Moderate
- Hardiness
- Hardy, takes Irish frost
- In Ireland
- Cloche or fleece helps
- Germination
- 14 to 21 days at 7 to 25C
- Sowing depth
- 1cm
- Spacing
- 5cm apart, 25cm between rows
- Position
- Full sun
- Containers
- Grows well in pots
- Sowing to harvest
- 12 to 20 weeks
- Harvest
- June to September
- Award
- RHS Award of Garden Merit
Sowing and harvest calendar for Amsterdam Forcing 3
Months shaded below are the reliable windows for Irish conditions.
Where to buy Amsterdam Forcing 3 carrot seeds in Ireland
Irish suppliers that stock this, so postage stays domestic and seed arrives in time to sow. These are plain links, not paid placements.
Order online
- Quickcrop Irish Sowing and harvest months listed on every packet Ballymote based, lists sowing and harvest months per product and ships across Ireland. Visit Quickcrop , Co. Sligo
- Brown Envelope Seeds Irish Organic seed grown and saved in West Cork Grows and saves its own certified organic seed in West Cork, so the varieties are already adapted to Irish conditions. Visit Brown Envelope Seeds , Co. Cork
Garden centres and mixed retailers
- Mr Middleton Irish Posted from Dublin Mail order arm of a long established Mary Street shop, carries the familiar named varieties the organic specialists skip. Visit Mr Middleton , Co. Dublin
- Woodie's Cheapest packet, click and collect nationwide Dublin headquartered chain, part of Grafton Group. Cheapest per packet and the only nationwide click and collect option. Visit Woodie's
Why it suits Ireland
Speed is the whole point. An Irish spring is slow to warm and quick to turn wet again, so a carrot that reaches usable size in roughly twelve weeks gives you a crop before anything can go seriously wrong with the season.
The short root also sidesteps the biggest structural problem in Irish gardens. Most of us are growing on clay, or on a thin layer of decent soil over stone, and neither suits a 25cm maincrop root. Amsterdam Forcing only asks for 20cm of loose soil, which almost any raised bed or large pot can supply.
It has no root fly resistance, but an early crop lifted in late June or July has less exposure to the second generation than a maincrop sitting in the ground until November.
Growing notes
Warm the bed under a cloche or fleece for two weeks before sowing, then sow direct into a 1cm drill from late March in mild areas or April elsewhere. Keep the cover on afterwards: it speeds germination, keeps birds off, and doubles as your root fly barrier if the edges are sealed down.
Sow thinly. The roots are slender and can be grown closer together than a maincrop, around 3 to 4cm apart in rows 20cm apart, so there is even less reason to thin than usual.
Keep the row damp until the seedlings appear, which takes two to three weeks in a cold spring. Once up, they are quick.
Start pulling from late June at finger thickness. They will hold in the ground for a few weeks after that but the texture coarsens, so it is better to sow another short row in June than to leave the first one standing.
Common questions
How early can I sow Amsterdam Forcing in Ireland?
Late March in the south and along the coast, and only if you warm the soil first with a cloche or a sheet of fleece for a fortnight and then leave the cover on. Inland and in the north west, April is more realistic. The limiting factor is soil temperature rather than air temperature: below about 7C the seed sits and often rots rather than germinating, and a sowing made in mid April will usually overtake one made in cold ground in early March.
Is Amsterdam Forcing good in containers?
It is the best of the common types for it, because the roots are short and slender. A container 20cm deep is enough, which is far less than a maincrop needs. Fill it with stone-free compost, sow thinly, keep it evenly moist, and if you can stand the container more than 60cm off the ground you will avoid most carrot root fly into the bargain, since the adult flies low.
Can I store Amsterdam Forcing carrots?
No, and there is no point trying. The roots are fine skinned and quick grown and they go soft in store. This is a carrot for pulling young and eating within days. Sow a maincrop such as Autumn King alongside it if you want carrots in the shed in January.
More carrots to consider
Nantes 2
Open pollinated / Nantes type, early maincrop
The carrot to grow if you only grow one: sweet, quick, reliable and forgiving of an average Irish summer.
Growing notes and stockistsAutumn King 2
Open pollinated / Maincrop, storage
The maincrop worth the space if your soil is deep, and easily the best of the common types for storing.
Growing notes and stockistsFlyaway F1
AGMF1 hybrid / Nantes type, root fly tolerant
Worth growing where root fly has ruined crops before, but treat the resistance as a second line of defence, not a replacement for mesh.
Growing notes and stockistsChantenay Red Cored 2
Open pollinated / Chantenay type, early maincrop
The answer to heavy or shallow Irish ground, because it never needed the depth in the first place.
Growing notes and stockists