Ah yes, have grown a few barrel/octopus carrots in my time. Would be good to master doing them well,though always going to be cheaper buying them wholesale. Have seen a few wild ones about, usually roadsides so possibly seeds came in on vehicles, but still always a nice one to see.

Amen on trial & error. The good thing about market gardening is hedging your bets between a lot of different crops, and usually there's a few that will do well. Brassicas, leeks and, oddly, florence fennel are the winners here so far, and ridge cucumbers in the polytunnel. But their still way slower than even last summer - as poor as that was too.

Hey-ho, we do what we can. I'm going with elderflower wine this year, something to console come the winter!

cheers,
I