You put me to shame LadyA, I have sown 2 lots of carrots this year without seeing a single feathery leaf, and am about to give up. The summer heat increasingly puts me off growing too much unless it a) loves scorching weather or b) is finished by May/June. Consequently we have lots of fruit trees which can withstand the droughts once established. I do envy you soft fruit though, thats too difficult here.
MrsBiscuit, most years, I plant carrots at least twice, sometimes three times!! But my garden serves my dau & her family too, as they live in a tiny terraced house with no real space, although bless them, they have made a raised bed in their tiny yard! And we eat a lot of vegetables between us, mostly the basics of carrots/parsnips/onions etc. so it makes sense to grow as much of those as we can. My late husband planted lots of apple, pear cherry and one plum tree here years ago, and in season, I spend days bottling and drying fruit and making cider vinegar. The birds eat all the cherries, all I find are the stones! They eat all the black & red currants too! He had also planted lots of raspberries, but hadn't left enough space between them, and had never pruned them, so I've had the old ones all taken out, and am starting again. I couldn't even get in to pick the fruit of the old ones, they were so thick!