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Best carrot seeds

Updated: October 2026

You want one packet in the basket, and the results mix five-star lines on two or three reviews with a 4.3 that has hundreds of comments under it. Best carrot seeds, in this amazon.co.uk set, means a condition: the root you can grow, then a review sample large enough to include failures. The [carrot seed comparison](/hub/root-vegetables/carrot-seeds) lists all twelve packets from the 15 October 2026 listings. This page makes one pick and says who should leave it. The Products Compared editorial team used those listings and the RHS notes on shape. We did not run a taste test or a germination trial.

You want one packet in the basket, and the results mix five-star lines on two or three reviews with a 4.3 that has hundreds of comments under it.

Our top picks

Meldon Seeds Meldon Seeds Chantenay Red Cored

Best overall

Meldon Seeds Meldon Seeds Chantenay Red Cored
9.2/10about £2.95
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Meldon Seeds Meldon Seeds Early Nantes

Rank 2

Meldon Seeds Meldon Seeds Early Nantes
9.0/10about £3.10
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Mr Fothergill's Mr Fothergill’s Autumn King 2

Best value

Mr Fothergill's Mr Fothergill’s Autumn King 2
9.0/10about £2.34
View offer
On this page
  1. 1.Best means a condition, not a lab
  2. 2.Top pick for a blunt early root
  3. 3.Best value for a storage maincrop
  4. 4.Skip both if the soil is shallow

Best means a condition, not a lab

A top pick here is the packet whose stars come with enough UK reviews to show both a crop and a failure, and whose shape matches the soil or the pot you have. It is not a sown trial, and it is not the highest star average. A five-star line on two or three reviews cannot tell you what happens when a packet arrives damp. The useful samples are larger and slightly lower. Early Nantes at £3.10 is 4.3 from 267 reviews. Chantenay Red Cored is 4.4 from 170 at £2.95. Autumn King 2 is 4.3 from 54 at £2.34. If your ground is shallow, the 267-review packet is the wrong first buy. The buying guide keeps the checklist for counts and organic wording. This page stops at the choice.

Top pick for a blunt early root

The top pick for a blunt early carrot is the Meldon Early Nantes single at £3.10 with 4.3 from 267 reviews. The seller describes a blunt root with a small core in 65–75 days, and says it can go in pots, troughs, or beds. Others report no germination, a damp packet, or roots that stayed small. Skip it if you need a short root for a shallow trough, or a control-body organic mark. The title says 1,000 seeds and the pieces line says 2,000. The seller also says to cover the seed with about 3 cm, deeper than the RHS figure of about 1 cm. The two-packet Early Nantes at £5.82 shows the same 4.3 from 267 and the same review names and dates. That is the single’s sample printed again.
Meldon Seeds Meldon Seeds Chantenay Red Cored

Testsieger

Meldon Seeds Meldon Seeds Chantenay Red Cored
9.2/10about £2.95
View offer

Best value for a storage maincrop

The best value packet, when you want a maincrop that the seller says will store, is Mr Fothergill’s Autumn King 2 at £2.34 with 4.3 from 54 reviews. The bullets describe large tapering roots. Eight review texts mostly say the seed germinated and grew. One packet did not grow. Another produced pink flowers instead of carrots. Skip Autumn King 2 for a patio pot. The listing asks whether it can be grown in containers and does not answer, and it gives no pot depth. The planting attribute says autumn. That is an Amazon field, not a sowing month in the bullets, so do not treat it as a date to sow.

Skip both if the soil is shallow

If the fork meets stones or the bed is heavy clay, leave both the top pick and the best value packet. The RHS says long roots fork in stones, shallow soil, and clay, and that short-rooted types cope better. The stump alternative is Meldon Chantenay Red Cored at £2.95, with 4.4 from 170 reviews. The seller calls it a stump of about 1.5 inches in about 80 days. It is not the default pick, because Nantes fits better when you have depth. Short ’n’ Sweet sounds like a pot carrot, yet that listing never answers the pot question, and 5.0 from three reviews does not fill the gap. The blunt root against the stump is on Nantes or Chantenay carrots. Pot depth, including more than 20 cm for baby roots, is on the containers page. A qualifying purchase can earn a commission at no extra cost to you.

Common questions

What is the top pick in this set?
The top pick is the Meldon Early Nantes single at £3.10, with 4.3 from 267 amazon.co.uk reviews on 15 October 2026. It suits a blunt early root in a bed or a deep pot. We did not trial the seed.
What is the best value packet?
Mr Fothergill’s Autumn King 2 at £2.34, with 4.3 from 54 reviews, is the best value when you want a tapering maincrop the seller says stores well. It is poor value if you only have a pot, because the listing does not confirm containers.
Is Chantenay better than Nantes?
Chantenay is the better fit when the soil is shallow, stony, or heavy, because the RHS links forking to long roots in those conditions. Nantes is the better fit when you can give a blunt root depth or you will pull it young. Neither star line proves a sweeter root.
Should I trust 5.0 from two reviews?
Use it as a small sample, not as a ranking. Unwins Sugarsnax is 5.0 from two reviews, and Short ’n’ Sweet is 5.0 from three, with no review text stored in the listing. The larger sample is the one that can change a purchase.
Who should skip Early Nantes?
Skip the £3.10 Early Nantes single if you need a short stump for clay or stones, if the pot is too shallow for a blunt root you intend to grow on, or if you need a control body named next to the word organic. The twin pack does not fix that, because it repeats the same reviews.
Do you trial the seed?
No. These picks rest on amazon.co.uk prices, star lines, and review texts from the 15 October 2026 listings, plus RHS guidance on which shapes fork. There is no germination trial and no tasted crop behind the top pick or the best value label.

Related pages

Forked carrot roots

Carrot seeds

Carrot seeds buying guide for shape, count and price

Carrot seeds for pots: UK depth, compost and variety

How to sow carrot seeds: depth, timing and thinning

Nantes or Chantenay: blunt root or stump for UK soil

Sources

Public UK sources, checked with the amazon.co.uk listings of 15 October 2026. Shelf prices and star lines are the figures in the display file. Specialist catalogue prices are before postage.

  1. RHS: How to grow carrots (retrieved 15 October 2026)
  2. RHS: Carrot fly (retrieved 15 October 2026)
  3. Seed Marketing Regulations 2011 (retrieved 15 October 2026)
  4. GOV.UK: Apply to have seeds certified (retrieved 15 October 2026)
  5. Seed Marketing Regulations 2011, explanatory memorandum (retrieved 15 October 2026)
  6. Gardeners’ World: How to grow carrots (retrieved 15 October 2026)
  7. Kings Seeds: Carrot Early Nantes 2 (retrieved 15 October 2026)
  8. Suttons: Carrot Early Nantes 5 (retrieved 15 October 2026)